He attended Clifton College in Bristol,[3] and also started conducting choirs and orchestras as a teenager.
[4] He also served as the organist-choirmaster at St John's Anglican Church in Peterborough, Ontario from 1968 to 1971 and taught on the music faculty at Trent University.
He studied conduction from 1971 to 1973 with Karel Ančerl and Victor Feldbrill in Toronto, Richard Lert in Los Angeles, and Hans Swarowsky in Vienna.
In 1974, he received a grant from the Canada Council, which allowed him to study conducting further in Detmold, West Germany.
He conducted the London Pro Musica choir and was conductor of the International Symphony of Sarnia and Port Huron from 1978 to 1982.