 His teachers include Samuel Adler, William Albright, Warren Benson, William Bolcom, David Liptak, Joseph Schwantner, and Bright Sheng, and piano with Barry Snyder.His works have been performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony, New York Youth Symphony, Chicago Youth Symphony, Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Haddonfield Symphony, Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps, and many college orchestras and bands, among others.He has also received awards and recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Masterprize, the American Composers Orchestra, ASCAP, the K. Serocki Competition in Poland, the Zoltan Kodaly and Francois d'Albert Concours Internationales de Composition, and a concerto commission for clarinettist Richard Stoltzman.