Biography

Born in New York City in 1948, I attended the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan earning BM and MM degrees in Music Composition respectively. My composition teachers include Warren Benson, Samuel Adler, Ross Lee Finney and Leslie Bassett.

Since 1980 I’ve resided in Tucson, Arizona where I have been a part-time performer/educator and a full-time composer. In 1996, I was the recipient of the Tucson/Pima Arts Council Composer’s Fellowship . My portfolio includes over 100 works for a variety of media.These include commissions from the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Contrabass virtuoso Bertram Turetzsky, Native American Flutist Carlos Nakai, Organists David Gay and Marijim Thoene and the Arizona Repertory Singers. In addition, my ‘Canyons ‘ for String Quartet was performed by members of the National Symphony Orchestra as part of their Composer Residency Commissioning Project.

My interests also include collaborative pieces with artists of other disciplines. These include music for dance, theater and video. Recently,excerpts from my opera Kinyamaswah which I wrote along with librettist Andreas Morgner, was performed at Howard University. My music has been performed in Europe and Asia as well as throughout the United States.