John Griffiths was born in Melbourne on 2 December 1952. He graduated from Monash University with a BA and a PhD in 1984, and studied guitar from childhood, first with his father. After his BA he studied in Germany with Siegfried Behrend and in Spain with José Luis Lopátegui. He also studied lute and vihuela at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Hopkinson Smith and Eugen M. Dombois. From 1980 to 2011 he was on the staff of the University of Melbourne.

He is a musician and musicologist specialised in music for guitar and early plucked instruments, especially the vihuela and lute. His doctoral thesis on the Vihuela Fantasia established him as a leading scholar of early Spanish instrumental music. His publications include new editions of early sources of music for vihuela and lute. His work on the life and music of the vihuelist Esteban Daza is described as particularly noteworthy. He founded the ensemble La Romanesca in 1978.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Griffiths_(musician)
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6236411