Jan-Piet has always enjoyed singing.  In love with operetta since childhood, he finally made  his stage debut as a singer as the Boatswain in H.M.S. Pinafore with the Ridgewood Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Co. He has since appeared as Major Murgatroyd in Patience and as Strephon in Iolanthe with the same group and has served as its Music Director for the spring 2006 production of The Gondoliers. 

In addition, JP has sung duets by Cornelius in concert with soprano Susan Diamond. With mezzo-soprano Wanda Grochowski he presented  “The Great American Songbook,” with songs by George Gershwin, Frank Loesser, Jules Styne, and others.  He has also sung in a musical theater production celebrating the life and works of Irving Berlin and in opera scenes by Mozart (The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, The Magic Flute) and Thomas (Hamlet).

JP was a chorister at St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Haarlem from 1976 to 1980.  He has since studied singing with various teachers, most recently with Claire Alexander in New York City.