Music cast its spell on me as a child. The first instrument I played (notice I said played, not taught to play) was the flute. Over the years I have played, the guitar, the trumpet, the violin, the piano and the recorder. I have had many teachers for most of these instruments, and composition and orchestration, but I am largely self-taught.

Arriving into my teens during the early 1970s had a major influence on the music I listened to and wrote, especially progressive rock. I quickly moved on to “classical” music at 18, when I bought my first piano.

Post-classical music is where my strength and heart is today, although, jazz and baroque music has a strong pull on me. I like to think all three of these styles can be heard in my compositions now.

The orchestra is the goal for a lot of composers. The sound colours, the shape of the music it can create and the dynamic of the orchestra can not be matched, in my opinion. The orchestra offers the composer a limitless range of expression techniques, and that’s what music is about for me. Being able to express what I feel as one human in music to another, is the most empathetic form of communication that I know.

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