Paul Steenhuisen (born 1965 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian composer working with a broad range of acoustic and digital media.
Steenhuisen obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from the University of British Columbia, where he studied with Keith Hamel.
He attended master classes and individual lessons with Mauricio Kagel, Helmut Lachenmann, Jean-Claude Risset, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Brian Ferneyhough, Frederic Rzewski, Magnus Lindberg, and others.
At the behest of the TSO, he wrote the chamber work Ciphering in Tongues, and orchestral pieces Airstream and Pensacola (a melodrama for orchestra, computer, and spatialized brass).
During this time, Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra commissioned another orchestral piece, Your Soul is a Bottle Full of Thirsting Salt.
Bread was also performed at the 2001 ISCM World Music Days in Yokohama, Japan, by the Tokyo Ensemble COmeT, and at the BONK festival (Tampa, Florida), where Steenhuisen was a frequent guest.