I was born and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, graduated from that city's Westminster Boys High and later received a B.A. from Washington and Lee University in Virginia . While there, I studied composition with the late composer and conductor Robert Stewart, whose encouragement and support eventually steered me in the direction of a composing career. I now live in New York City where I compose and also teach at The Mannes College of Music , having earlier studied composition there with David Tcimpidis and Rudolph Palmer.

My first exposure to music came at an early age in Atlanta through my family's housekeeper and cook, Roberta Robinson. Hearing her play the piano and sing gospel hymns fascinated me greatly and later led to my pursuing piano studies with Christian W. Dieckmann, the head of the Department of Music at Agnes Scott College. Throughout my childhood and teens I played piano and organ, often substituting for my church organist and playing popular piano for my parents' social gatherings. I played for musicals and rock and roll bands in high school and ,later, college productions; accompanied the Washington and Lee Glee Club and developed my own “stride piano” version of the legendary “Washington and Lee Swing.” During college I also began seriously composing and premiered several student performances of some early chamber works.

Since living in New York City, I have written a variety of compositions ranging from works for full orchestra to scores for dance and Off-Broadway Theater. I have received several awards and grants including the New Music for Young Ensembles National Composers' Competition First Prize and Meet the Composer grants from The ASCAP Special Awards Program. My works have been heard in the New York City area at Weill Recital Hall, The Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, Mannes College, Hofstra University, on radio station WQXR and internationally in Belgium and Japan. I have received performances by The Meridian String Quartet, The Belgian Radio Symphony Orchestra chamber ensemble, The Construction Company Chamber Ensemble, and numerous solo artists, including the soprano Phyllis Clarke who recently performed in Japan my song cycle based on poems by Langston Hughes. I still play jazz and rock keyboards, performing on CDs released by the rock band Major Minor and the vocalist Liv Cummins. Right now I am working on Gdansk, an opera based upon events surrounding Poland's history-breaking Solidarity Movement during the 1980s.