Born in Haarlem, The Netherlands, Jan-Piet Knijff studied organ, harpsichord, piano, sacred music, and musicology in Amsterdam and Utrecht. After winning the International Bach Organ Competition in Lausanne, Switzerland (1997), he moved to New York, earning a doctorate from The City University of New York (2005). He taught music--performance as well as musicology--at the undergraduate and graduate levels in a number of universities in the New York metropolitan area, including Purchase College/SUNY and Queens College/CUNY. His private studio in New York included graduates from some of the world's foremost music schools as well as students with a variety of special needs.

In 2011, Jan-Piet took up a position at the University of New England, Australia, where he taught Latin and ancient Greek in addition to music. He ran a very successful University Choir, hosted his own weekly Jan-Piet's Choice--a kind of musical talk show which ran for some 80 installments--and organized three community-based music festivals. Jan-Piet currently teaches Latin at UK and at Lexington Catholic High School while completing an MA in Classics at UK. As a recording artist, Jan-Piet has appeared on Decca with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and more recently on Naxos with Edward Smaldone's A Certain Slant of Light for organ solo. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, he has been a professional church musician for over 30 years. His scholarly articles--often on organ art and hymnology--have been published on three continents and in three languages.