During 1992–1998 he studied composition at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, with Wolfgang Hufschmidt [de].
At the Rotterdam Hogeschool voor Muziek en Dans, he completed his studies in composition with Peter-Jan Wagemans and Klaas de Vries in April 2002.
He participated in masterclasses of Manfred Trojahn, Edison Denisov and George Crumb, amongst others.
[1] His 13 Epigrams for Orchestra were nominated for the Dutch Young Composers Prize in 2000.
Works by Kunstein have been published by Donemus, including:[2] His 10 Epigrams for toy piano appeared in 1994 on CD SST 31112 played by Bernd Wiesemann[3] and his 10 Epigrams for piano appeared on NCC 8007 played by Ratko Delorko.