Born in 1949 in a north New Jersey suburb of the City of New York, I became a music major at Paterson State College in 1968 studying there with percussionist Raymond DesRoches. I was a member of his New Jersey Percussion Ensemble for the next 11 years. Through Ray I gained entrance into the New York new music community performing with: The Group for contemporary Music (Charles Wuorinen, Harvey Sollberger), he Contemporary Chamber Ensemble (Arthur Weisberg, The Composers Ensemble (Peter Lieberson, Erik Lundborg), The Light Fantastic Chamber Players (Daniel Shulman), The New Structures Ensemble (Peter Lieberson, Matthias Kreisberg), also performing with The Erick Hawkins Dance Company, The Martha Graham Dance Company, The Nancy Meehan Dance Company and for off-Broadway theater in Gene Frankel's 1974 production of John Cromwell's "Split Lip" at Theater in Space featuring Seth Allen, in Playwrights Horizon 1975 production of Wendy Wasserstein's "Montpelier Pizzazz" featuring Bess Armstrong, and in the 1976 Lenox Arts Center production of Allen and Wallace Shawn's one act Opera "in the Dark" featuring soprano Barbara Martin.

Highlights from those years include the 1975 New York premiere of Stefan Wolpe's "Symphony" at Carnegie Hali with the Orchestra of the 20t Century- conductor Arthur Weisberg. (a recording of that live performance is available on CRI). The New York premiere of Pierre Boulez's "Pli Selon Pli" at Carnegie Hall with the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble featuring soprano Barbara Martin- conductor Arthur Weisberg. The 1973 Yale Symphony Orchestra's European premiere at Vienna's Konzerthaus of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass"- conductor John Maucer. (Timed by the Bac and broadcast in the U.S. on PBS). The 1976 State Department tour of the Far East and Australia with the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble featuring soprano Barbara Martin- conductor Arthur Weisberg. The 1979 performance by the Martha Graham Dance Company of Edgar Varese's "Equatorial" featuring Rudolph Nureyev at the Metropolitan Opera House. And having three scores written by Charles Wuorinen especially for groups of which I was a member- for the NJPE "Ringing Changes" and "Percussion Symphony" (both recorded for Nonesuch with Charles conducting) and for The Composers Ensemble "Arabia Felix" with Peter Lieberson conducting and of also performing in the New York premiere at Carnegie Hall of his "Contrafactum" with Charles conducting.