Jan Van der Roost was born in Duffel, Belgium, in 1956. At a very young age he was introduced to the prominent names in the concert band, fanfare band and brass band repertoire which inspired him to put something on paper himself. He studied trombone, music history and musical education at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Louvain). He continued his studies at the Royal Conservatoires of Ghent and Antwerp, where he qualified as a conductor and a composer.

Jan Van der Roost currently teaches at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven (Belgium), is special visiting professor at the Shobi Institute of Music in Tokyo, guest professor at the Nagoya University of Art and guest professor at Senzoku Gakuen in Kawasaki (Japan). Besides being a prolific composer he is also very much in demand as an adjudicator, lecturer, holder of clinics and guest conductor. His musical activities have taken place in more than 45 countries in four continents and his compositions have been performed and recorded around the world.
His list of works covers a wide variety of genres and styles, including two oratorios, a children’s opera, a cantata, a symphony and some smaller works for symphony orchestra, a guitar concerto (dedicated to Joaquin Rodrigo), a concerto for trumpet and string orchestra (dedicated to and commissioned by the Norwegian virtuoso Ole Edvard Antonsen), a double concerto for two clarinets and string orchestra (dedicated to Walter and Anne Boeykens), a concerto for clarinet and symphony orchestra (commissioned by and dedicated to Eddy Vanoosthuyse), Images for alto saxophone and chamber orchestra, a lieder cycle for baritone and chamber orchestra, works for strings and chamber orchestra, chamber music, numerous brass band and concert band compositions (including Sinfonia Hungarica, a three-movement symphony for large concert band and Sinfonietta), choral music and instrumental solos. Many of these compositions have been broadcast on radio and TV in many countries and most of them have been recorded on CD by renowned performers. Jan Van der Roost exclusively composes commissioned works, with commissions coming from Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, the USA, Japan, Spain, France, Singapore, Austria, Canada, Norway, Germany, Brazil, Finland, Luxembourg, Hungary, Colombia, Croatia and England.