Diederick Basson received his first organ lessons from Danie Smit at DF Malan High in Bellville. At the University of Pretoria he studied with Wim Viljoen and Joseph Stanford, and, at Stellenbosch University, with Boudewijn Scholten, Pieter de Lange and Bennie van Eeden. In 1997 he received an NZAV bursary that enabled him to study with the late Ewald Kooiman, Professor of Organ at the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) in Amsterdam, specialising in the interpretation and performance of French and German Baroque organ music.
He obtained the BMus, BMus Honours (cum laude) and MMus degrees at Stellenbosch University and a PhD degree at the North-West University (Potchefstroom campus). He holds UNISA licentiates in Performance, Teaching and Church music (organ) (all obtained cum laude) as well as the AMusTCL and LMusTCL music theory diplomas from Trinity College London.
Diederick is currently the Director of Music at Somerset College in Somerset West, part-time lecturer in Music Theory Teaching Method at Stellenbosch University’s Music Department and Chairman of the Stellenbosch Eisteddfod. In 2013 he co-authored a series of school textbooks published by Oxford University Press. He is a member of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (the South African academy of arts and sciences) and the International Society for Music Education, and the former editor of the journal Vir die Musiekleier (ISSN 1999-3412). In 2019 and 2020 he served on the judging panel of The Global Undergraduate Awards Programme based in Dublin, Ireland. In 2003 he joined Fine Music Radio in Cape Town as a voluntary presenter and currently presents the programme Sunday Concert. He regularly performs as a soloist and accompanist.