Kees Boeke was born in Amsterdam. He studied recorder with Frans Brüggen and cello with Anner Bijlsma at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. After graduating with honours in 1969, he founded the Quadro Hotteterre. He was also a member of Kees Otten’s Syntagma Musicum for many years and a cofounder of Sour Cream (1972), Little Consort Amsterdam (1978), and Mala Punica (1989).

In 1970, Kees Boeke began his teaching activities in The Hague and at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. Since 1990, he is Professor of Recorder and Early Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zürich, Switzerland. In 2005, he was named full professor of Medieval and Renaissance Music studies at the Institut für Alte Musik in Trossingen, Germany.
He has given seminars and master classes in recorder and early music around the world including the Deller Academy (Lacoste, France 1972-1982), Corsi Internazionali di Musica Antica (Urbino, Italy 1975-1982), Early Music Festival, Vancouver and has been artistic director of the International Early Music courses at San Floriano (Polcenigo, Italy 1983-1993). From 1989 on, he collaborated with the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, for whom he produced Ludovico da Viadana’s Vespers (Salmi a 4 cori, 1612) in 1994.

In 1996, Kees Boeke began his work as musical director for the ensemble Cantica Symphonia with whom he has made recordings of the Motets by Costanzo Festa and Masses by Guillaume Dufay. He has been invited as guest conductor by the vocal and instrumental ensemble “L’Homme Armé” in Florence and by the ensemble Ars Nova Copenhagen for concerts in Holland, Belgium and Denmark. Over the years, he has collaborated with the Hilliard Ensemble in concerts and recordings of the music of Heinrich Isaac, Orlando di Lasso, and Philippe de Monte.

Kees Boeke has recorded over 70 records and CD’s for Teldec, Das Alte Werk, EMI, RCA, Nuova Era, Channel Classics, Arcana, Symphonia, Attacca, Erato, Philips, Stradivarius, Glossa, Mirare and his own label Olive Music.

In the realm of contemporary music, Kees Boeke forms an electronic recorder duo, Duix, with Antonio Politano. The ensemble specializes in performance on bass recorders, with emphasis on new music by Italian composers. Kees Boeke is himself an active composer (Donemus, Amsterdam, Sheetmusicnow.com ) and editor of early and contemporary music (Zen-On, Tokyo; Schott, London).

Since 2001 he has worked closely with Professor Laurenz Lütteken (University of Zurich) in projects and seminars in the field of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music. In 2003, he started his CD label Olive Music, along with his wife, singer Jill Feldman. In addition, the two founded a new ensemble "Tetraktys" for medieval music. The Tetraktys programs include, among other things, the Trecento, Chansons by Dufay and contemporaries, the Squarcialupi Codex, the complete recording of the Chantilly Codex, works of Ciconia, sacred and secular works by Matteo da Perugia, the Songbook of Johannes Heer etc.

Since 1980 Kees Boeke lives in Tuscany, where he produces extra virgin olive oil.