John Wilson received the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music diploma (LRAM) in 1963 shortly before beginning his mathematical education at Christ's College, Cambridge.

He has held visiting professorships in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Australia and the USA and is currently affiliated to the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig.

His chamber music includes works for small wind or string ensembles,[6] for solo instrument plus piano, and for more unusual combinations such as harmonica and organ.

[7] He has written pieces for organ or piano alone[8] as well as Lieder on texts by writers ranging from Goethe to Tennessee Wiliams and Martin Luther King.

His music has been performed widely in the UK and in Germany and France, in venues such as Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge, the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig and St. Étienne-du-Mont in Paris.