From 1988 to 2004 he was artistic director of the Dutch Ensemble '88 for contemporary music. Since 2004, René Gulikers has been the principal conductor of the Wire Works Ensemble and since 2006 of the Ensemble 21, both in Germany.

From 1988 until 1990 Gulikers taught orchestral conducting at the Maastricht conservatoire. In addition he has been teaching at the music academy in Münster (Germany) since 1994 and from October 2005 he has been appointed professor at the music academy in Hamburg (Germany).

So far there are 7 CDs in which Gulikers conducts works by contemporary composers. In addition to the modern repertoire Gulikers of course conducts the standard repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries.

After studying orchestral conducting in Maastricht (The Netherlands), René Gulikers (1961) attended several conducting courses and won prizes in competitions in Salzburg (first prize, 1985) and Besançon (1992).

Many invitations followed: he has conducted orchestras in South Korea, Japan, Lithuania, Poland and China. In Russia he worked with the leading orchestras like the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Ural Philharmonic (Jekaterinburg) and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Nizhny Novgorod. Since 1997, René Gulikers has been a regular guest with the two main orchestras in Slovenia and with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile. In his own country, Gulikers conducted amongst others the Netherlands Philharmonic and the Dutch Chamber Orchestra.