Dutch bass Peter Kooij, born in 1954, started his musical career at the age of six as a choir boy and sang many solo soprano parts in concerts and on records. He started his formal musical studies as a violin student. This was followed by singing tuition from Max van Egmond at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, and in 1980 he obtained a diploma for solo performance.
Peter Kooij is a regular performer at the most important festivals in Europe. He has also sung in Israel, South America and Japan with Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Gustav Leonhardt, Roger Norrington and Michel Corboz. Since 1995, Peter Kooij has been a professor of singing at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam.