Kees Otten

Kees Otten, whose full name was Gerrit Cornelis Otten, was born in Amsterdam on 28 November 1924. He is one of the Dutch figures who did most to bring the recorder back to the concert stage in the twentieth century, and he is regarded as the first Dutch soloist on the instrument.

His musical training took place at the Muzieklyceum and the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he studied clarinet and recorder. Before establishing himself as a soloist, he played clarinet and alto saxophone in a dance orchestra, and recorder in a cabaret show. He made his solo debut in 1946 and soon gained recognition. At the Muzieklyceum he set up recorder classes, among whose pupils was Frans Brüggen, and he also taught at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He commissioned works from composers such as Henk Badings.

In 1963 he founded the ensemble Syntagma Musicum, of about six players, which toured the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan and recorded numerous works by little-known Renaissance composers. Otten also prepared many editions and wrote extensively on the recorder and early music. In 1998 he formed another group devoted to performing and recording twentieth-century music for recorder, with works by Hindemith, Poulenc, Auric, Walter Leigh and others.