Pauline Oostenrijk studied oboe and piano at the Sweelinck Conservatory, nowadays the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Her teachers were Koen van Slogteren, Jan Spronk, Thomas Indermühle, Han de Vries (oboe) and Willem Brons (piano).
She was Dutch ‘Young Musician of the Year’ in 1986 and subsequently won several other prizes, including first prize in the Fernand Gillet oboe competition in Baltimore, as a result of which she gave a recital in Carnegie Hall, New York. In 1999 she received the Dutch Music Prize, the highest award in the Netherlands in the field of classical music.

From 1993 to 2018 she was solo oboist of the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague. She has performed frequently as a soloist and in various chamber music formations. She gives concerts with, among others, guitarist Enno Voorhorst, the The Hague String Trio and as a member of the Orlando Quintet.
Pauline Oostenrijk is also a passionate teacher who is committed to creating more development opportunities for young talented oboists.