I have worked at St. Stephen since 2018, when I was hired as the parish's music director. I am enjoying my time here.

I am a composer, pianist, organist, choir director, and music teacher. I have composed music for solo piano, song cycles for piano and voice, chamber ensemble as well as orchestral pieces. I studied music composition and theory with composer John Huggler at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. After completing a bachelor's in theory and composition and a bachelor's in English literature, I went to graduate school at SUNY Fredonia in New York. My primary composition teacher there was Donald Bohlen. I completed my master's degree in composition and theory and also earned my teaching certificate in vocal music for Grades K-12.

After 25 years teaching vocal music in the St. Louis Public Schools I retired from teaching in June 2015. My career as a part-time church musician began when I started student teaching. I had been a choir director and an organist before I moved to St. Louis. In St. Louis I was the organist at St. Philip's Lutheran Church for 10 years, and I was the minister of music for 10 years at the UCC Church of the Open Door. My most recent position was at St. George Catholic Church. My position was eliminated when St. George and St. Dominic Savio merged in May 2018.

I am married to my wonderful wife, Dolores, a chiropractor and a fine pianist in her own right. We enjoy playing four-hand piano duets as well as organ and piano duets. We have three grown sons -- Jeremy, Joshua, and Matthew -- and a large family of pets.

Artist Statement: I compose music in order to make some sense of life. Music has the capacity to engage emotions, intellect, and the kinesthetic. Even when text is used the words undergo a sea change. The original meaning of the words is amplified, distorted, and subsumed by the music. I also enjoy the process of composition when a single melodic idea can create its own sonic world that mirrors the process of life itself.