“If there is a composer in whose work the practice of making music and the craft called composing complement each other in an exemplary way, it is Kees Olthuis,” writes musicologist Maarten Brandt in the magazine of the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra (2009). In addition to his activities as a bassoonist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Olthuis has also been part of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Amsterdam Nonet for over twenty years. A great love for the classical music tradition of the early twentieth century, especially the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, and Maurice Ravel, resonates in Olthuis’s music. Composing as a craft and direct communication with his listening audience is paramount. Compositions that display subtle use of colour and a great sense of storytelling. Olthuis taught ensemble playing at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and is conductor of the Amstel String Ensemble.