Born in South Africa, he began his career as a violinist. He spent nine years as concert master at the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, leaving in 1996 to concentrate on conducting, before joining the Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari as music director from 1999-2005. His recent engagements have included Cosí fan tutte (GOT); Le nozze di Figaro (La Scala); Ariadne auf Naxos, L’Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe, Siegfried (Opéra National de Lyon); Don Giovanni (Royal Swedish Opera); Don Pasquale (Trieste). In Cagliari he conducted the first Italian performances of Richard Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena, Weber’s Euryanthe, Delius’s A Village Romeo and Juliet and Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella. His recordings include Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, Souvenir de Florence (with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for DG); Don Pasquale (TDK); Die ägyptische Helena, Euryanthe and Alfonso und Estrella (Dynamic).