Daryl Jamieson was born in 1980 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He studied at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario with Glenn Buhr and Linda Catlin Smith, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Diana Burrell, and then with Nicola LeFanu at the University of York. He subsequently spent a research year in Tokyo, studying under Jō Kondō.

Daryl writes for both Japanese and western classical instruments. His major compositions include large chamber pieces, a shakuhachi concerto, three string quartets, and many songs. His English-language monoopera Matsumushi premiered in Tokyo in 2014. His music has been performed in across Europe, the UK, and Canada by the Quatuor Bozzini, Musiques Nouvelles, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, Barbara Pritchard, Satoko Inoue, Nobutaka Yoshizawa, Junko Ueda, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel, and the Arnold Schönberg Chamber Orchestra.

He is a co-founder of mmm… – a Tokyo-based trio dedicated to introducing the music of young composers from around the world to Japanese audiences – as well as the Tokyo-based international composers collective Music Without Borders. He is also a member of the Hogaku 2010 Japanese traditional instrument composers group and the artistic director of Atelier Jaku.