A winner of both the first prize and
the Audience Prize in the International Bach Competition Lausanne, Switzerland, JP has performed worldwide as a concert organist,
harpsichordist, and pianist. In New York, he is Organist-in-Residence and professor for organ
and chamber music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College of The City University of New York; Adjunct Professor of Music History at Hofstra University; Director of Music at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Pleasantville; and Organist and Music Director at Union Temple of Brooklyn. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Graduate Center of The City University of New York and the MM/Artist Diploma from the Conservatory of Amsterdam. He is also an Associate of the American Guild of Organists.
JP
enjoys being a part of community musical theatre productions in more than one way. He has sung principal roles with
the Ridgewood Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Co. and subsequently served as the company's Music Director
for a series of performances of The Gondoliers in spring 2006. In fall 2006, he was the Music Director for The
Music Man with the Bedford Community Theatre (Bedford Hills, NY).
Playing
the tuba is the most recent addition to JP’s musical activities. He performs with the Diamond Jubilators, a jazz band that aims at enhancing people’s lives and well-being using mainly jazz and popular songs from the
1920s through the 1940s. The band recently performed at two New York State "correctional facilities" to some of the
most enthusiastic audiences JP has ever seen.
JP
teaches organ, piano, and harpsichord to students of all ages and levels—from beginner to graduate student and
professional—in the New York metropolitan area. He is also an experienced vocal and
instrumental coach at every level (from a 10-year-old beginning clarinetist to experienced professional singers).
He makes his home
in South Salem, just an hour north of Manhattan, with his
wife Brigitte Pohl-Knijff, a licensed acupuncturist, healer, and teacher of therapeutic art and music.
