Born in Halle to a singer and composer, Jan Freiheit first attended the Georg Friedrich Händel Secondary School in Berlin, which specializes in music. There, he began studying the cello at the age of twelve and was soon admitted to the Youth Symphony Orchestra. The name of the school became a red thread throughout his musical career, as Händel has remained a guiding influence on his artistic interests and activities. 

After completing his secondary education, military service, and internships at opera houses, he studied cello at Berlin`s Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler from 1983 to 1988. During this time, his growing fascination with Baroque music led him to explore historical performance practice in depth. From 1989 to 1992, he studied viola da gamba with Prof. Siegfried Pank at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig. and attended various international masterclasses. A direct result of these interests was the founding of the Berliner Barock-Compagney in 1986, a chamber ensemble dedicated primarily to music from 1650 to 1750, but also to works from the Classical period. 

Since 1992, Jan Freiheit has been a member and principal cellist of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, a position he has held for over thirty years. In addition to his ensemble work, he has also appeared as a solo performer on both viola da gamba and cello, giving concerts across North and South America, Australia, Japan, and nearly all European countries. 

From 2012 to 2017, he held a lectureship at the Berliner Universität der Künste, teaching Baroque cello and basso continuo practice for lower string instruments. In autumn 2013, he was appointed Professor of Baroque Cello and Historical Cello Instruments at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig.