Rick Stotijn is considered one of the leading bass players in the world. He studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with his father Peter Stotijn, where he graduated with the highest distinction. Subsequently, he studied with Bozo Paradzik at the Hochschule in Freiburg.

He has won many prestigious prizes at the Princess Christina Competition, for instance. In 2013 he received the Dutch Music Prize, which is the highest accolade awarded to a musician in the Netherlands. Many solo appearances at home and abroad followed, including a Carte Blanche series of four concerts in the small hall of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He performs regularly as a soloist with orchestras such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra, the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonie Zuid-Nederland, and the Residentie Orchestra The Hague. Many composers have dedicated new works to him, such as Roel van Oosten, Kees Olthuis, Rene Samson, Michel van der Aa, Ned Rorem, Martijn Padding, and Britta Byström.

As a chamber musician he has worked with Janine Jansen, Christianne Stotijn, Liza Ferschtman, Robert Holl, Mischa Maisky, Lavinia Meijer, Bram van Sambeek, Julius Drake, Cecilia Bernardini, Vilde Frang, Amihai Grosz, Julian Rachlin, Candida Thompson, Lawrence Power, Simon Crawford Phillips Johannes Rostamo, and many others. Furthermore, he is a regular guest at festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, the Delft Chamber Music Festival, and the International Chamber Music Festival by Janine Jansen in Utrecht. His first CD Bottesini (2012) received raving reviews. Subsequently, his second cd BASSO BAILANDO (2014) was received with high acclaim by magazines such as Strad and Gramophone.

Rick was the principal double bassist for the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, and Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He is currently the principal bassist in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. As a guest principal he regularly plays for the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Orchestra Mozart, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
Rick has taught at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Robert Schumann Hochschule Dusseldorf from 2015.

He performs on a Raffaele & Antonio Gagliano double bass, generously loaned by by the National Musical Instrument Foundation.