X-Nico

4 unusual facts about John van Kesteren


John van Kesteren

After completing his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Vera Schwarz in Salzburg, Van Kesteren was invited in 1954 to Berlin's Komische Oper to sing Nurreddin in Cornelius's The Barber of Baghdad under the direction of Walter Felsenstein and to sing the title role in the first performance in Germany of Rossini's Le comte Ory under the direction of Carl Ebert at the Stadtische Oper in 1956.

With van Karajan and the same orchestra, Van Kesteren sang at the 25th commemoration in Beethoven's ninth symphony and Missa Solemnis in Hiroshima and sang the Evangelist in the first Russian performance of the St Matthew Passion in Moscow.

Until his death in 2008, John van Kesteren lived in, Jupiter, Florida with his wife Louise.

John van Kesteren (born May 4, 1921, The Hague - died July 11, 2008, Jupiter, Florida) was a Dutch operatic tenor.



see also