A remarkable start of a conducting career: in 1995 the Dutch conductor Vincent de Kort, at the invitation of Mariss Jansons, made his debut conducting the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. His breakthrough followed in 1997 when he stepped in at the last minute for Gennady Rozhdestvensky with the European Union Youth Orchestra (soloist Radu Lupu) at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. This rapidly led to further engagements, he has since then been invited by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, New Japan Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Bochumer Symphoniker, Sinfonia Varsovia, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Kölner Kammerorchester, KZN Philharmonic Orchestra Durban, Bern Symfonie Orchester, Zürich Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Tours, Evian Festival Orchestra, Limburgs Symfonie Orkest, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Orkest van het Oosten, Brabants Orkest, European Sinfoniëtta, as well as the European Union Youth Orchestra, in which he had formerly been a cellist, under the direction of Claudio Abbado.

Having studied with Ed Spanjaard in The Hague and Mariss Jansons in Oslo, he was invited to St. Petersburg to study with the legendary teacher of Valery Gergiev, Professor Ilya Musin and was the assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Vincent de Kort frequently conducts at renowned operahouses including the Semperoper Dresden (La Bohème), Royal Swedish Opera (Carmen), Oper Leipzig (Rodolphe's Jason et Médée), Scottish Opera (Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte), New National Theatre Tokyo (Le Nozze di Figaro), Theater Luzerne (Peter Grimes), Theater Bern (Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth), and the Dutch Nationale Reisopera, where he has conducted Die Zauberflöte, Die lustige Witwe and Peter Schat's Monkey Subdues the White-bone Demon. In Vienna he conducted Cosi fan tutte at the Festival Schönbrunn, in the Robeco summerseries in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In the Nelson Mandela Theatre in Johannesburg de Kort has led an acclaimed Aida and Khumalo's contemporary Zulu opera Princess Magogo. With the Bochumer Symphoniker La Clemenza di Tito. At the State Opera of Tatarstan he has conducted a vast repertoire including Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Traviata, Falstaff, Aida and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. Baroque opera productions on period instruments he has conducted are Purcell's The Fairy Queen, Campra's L'Europe Galante, Lully's Cadmus et Hermione, Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans.

Vincent de Kort has established himself among the finest Mozart conductors. When he became the assistant to early music specialist William Christie in Paris, de Kort deepened his knowledge of baroque and classical music. With his experience of baroque, classical and the romantic repertoire, he is now widely respected for leading orchestras in specific period-style performances. In consequence Vincent de Kort has received the highest praise for his dynamic interpretations of the Mozart operas:

Of his Don Giovanni in Amsterdam the Dutch newspaper Trouw wrote: 'An overflowing Concertgebouw was almost dancing on the seats with pleasure ...the performance sparkled, cavorted and buzzed'. About his Cosi fan tutte in Edinburgh Scotland's The Herald quoted: 'Dutch conductor Vincent de Kort is a real discovery!', then later after Die Zauberflöte: ...'a brillliant conductor! Holland's Volkskrant wrote of his Le Nozze di Figaro: ' Vincent de Kort is the ideal theatre-conductor'.

He is principal guestconductor of the Zürich Symphony Orchestra and was musicdirector and founder of the international chamberorchestra European Sinfonietta as well as the Opera Festival Alden Biesen in Belgium. In addition to his performing career Vincent de Kort is a passionate long distance runner. He runs two marathons each year.