John William Griffith II is an American conductor, composer, pianist, and singer based in Amsterdam. He serves as the music director of the Nefesch Vokalensemble (Düsseldorf) and the Vocaalensemble Dwarsklank (Amsterdam), and has conducted choirs in Greece, Austria, the UK, the USA, Italy, and Romania. With a passion for vocal music, John studied choral composition with the late Sven-David Sandström, and has sung with the Eric Ericsons Kammarkör (Stockholm), Meesters & Gesellen (Amsterdam), I Dodici Consort (London) and the NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble (Bloomington, IN, USA).
John is currently pursuing a master's degree in choral conducting at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, studying with Daniel Reuss, Benjamin Goodson, Antony Hermus, and Maria van Nieukerken. He holds a Master of Music in Composition at the Royal College of Music (London) and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington). His teachers at the RCM included Alison Kay, Eric Whitacre, and Howard Williams, and he was also mentored by Timothy Brown at Cambridge University.
In March 2023, John composed and premiered Gospel Oak: nine songs for double choir a cappella, which was awarded the 2024 BMI Composer Award (New York City). His latest choral piece, Bringers, a setting of the poem by Carl Sandburg, was premiered by the VU Kamerkoor (Amsterdam, Netherlands) in May 2025 with Krista Audere conducting. John was named the winner of the 2022 RCM Concerto Competition for his original orchestral work When I’m reminded of home, premiered in January 2024 with the RCM Philharmonic, conducted by Natalia Luis-Bassa. John's piece for piano trio, “Culture Shock,” was a finalist in the 2023 Clements Prize (London, UK) and has been performed and recorded by the Fidelio Trio.