Vincent van Gelder

Vincent van Gelder was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. After studies at several academies and universities in Holland, Latvia, and the US, and receiving two master degrees, he graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. His most influential teachers were Leslie Howard, Czerny-Stefanska, Teofils Bikis, Arnis Zandmanis, Wilfred Delphin, and Richard Cass.

Dr. van Gelder has played recitals throughout Europe, and in many states in the US.  In 2011 he won the Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition and also received the prize for the best performance of a work by an American composer. In 2007, he was declared a winner in the "Artist International Competition" in New York.  As a result he performed a solo recital in Carnegie Weill recital Hall, on May 11, 2008.  The critic for the New York Concert Review wrote: “Dr. van Gelder is a formidably equipped, no-nonsense virtuoso and his diversified program of music…. commenced in an unfrivolous, honest and un-egocentric manner.  Dr. van Gelder’s interpretative and temperamental style is remarkably redolent of what I would have expected from a stereotypical “Dutchman”. In fact his playing at this concert made me recall Cor De Groot, a splendid artist whose Philips LP recordings gave me much pleasure”.

After this debut his career took a temporary dip when he nearly lost the index finger of his left hand.  Thanks to a successful surgery he made a nearly full recovery.  Other wins include the St. Louis Artist competition and all university concerto competitions at the places he attended.

Dr. van Gelder has been a member of the piano faculty at Duke University. He received numerous awards, some of which were from the Royal Dutch Association for Musicians, the EU (tempus), and most recently awards for video recordings of several programs and for his two CD’s, “Vincent van Gelder performs”, and “New York”, and this year for the recording of his new work: “Guardians of Iceland-Eylin’s Journey”

Vincent van Gelder’s recordings have been played on radio and tv stations in the US as well as The Netherlands.  He is a judge in several piano competitions in North Carolina, including the 2018 Highpoint University International Piano Competition.

Vincent van Gelder teaches frequent masterclasses at American Universities and beyond.

In June of 2018 he performed the world premiere of his composition “Guardians of Iceland-Eylin’s Journey” at Harpa in Reykjavik, Iceland. This was a collaboration with his 13 year old daughter and art prodigy Natalie van Gelder who did 13 artworks for each movement. The reviewer for Frettabladid wrote:” The music was magnificent and magnified the atmosphere of the artwork, and the artwork always put the piano in the right context”. This project was published in an Art/Story book with accompanying CD in September of 2018.

Other recent performances include a well-reviewed recital for the British Liszt Society in London, England, and a solo recital at the Van Cliburn festival, performing works from Van’s 1958 Tchaikovsky competition program on Van Cliburn’s favorite Steinway model D.

He founded the Triad Institute for Young Musicians in September 2015, an organization that promotes professional support in the form of competitions, master classes, concerts and more for pre-college musicians. This organization was instrumental in de organization of the Van Cliburn Festival and also hosted 3 annual piano competitions so far.

Vincent van Gelder is a Steinway&Sons top educator.