He earned a Master of Music in Composition from Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he studied with Steve Heitzeg.
In 2000, he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in the Literature and Performance of Choral Music from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he studied with Joan Catoni Conlon, Lawrence Kaptein, Lynn Whitten, William Kearns, and Alan Luhring.
He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association Research and Publications Committee.
Dr. Kuster works as Executive Editor of scholarly editions at Music of the United States of America.
He has specialized in music by Stravinsky, Messiaen, Amy Beach, Kurt Weill, and Heinrich Schütz.