Rixt van der Kooij studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Else Krijgsman (piano), Tan Crone (accompaniment) and Jeoffrey Madge (modern piano music). She then continued her studies at the Conservatory in Rotterdam where studied chamber music and song accompaniment with Mila Baslawskaja.

Rixt van der Kooij participated in masterclasses of Detleff Kraus (Weimar), Christian Zacharias (Chateaux de Villarceaux), Konrad Richter (Wiesbaden), Roger Vignoles (Rotterdam), Graham Johnson (Rotterdam) and Rudolf Jansen (Amsterdam).

Together with her duo partner Dessislava Radeva she won the second prize (EPTA-prize) in the 7th international EPTA four hand competition in Torhout in Belgium in 1997.

Also in 1997 Finlandia records brought out a CD with works of the Finnish composer Tauno Marttinen. She plays the Solo Sonate op. 90 and some chamber music works on this CD.

Rixt van der Kooij is acting more and more as a composer. She made two song cycles for the contralto Carina Vinke with cello and piano Chansons de Bilitis and Wesendonck-Lieder. She has also organised ‘Vocaal drieluik’ and ‘JongVocaal’ - two series of song recitals in The Netherlands.

Rixt van der Kooij is currently teaching piano as a secondary subject at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.