Aged eleven, he went to St Mary's Music School in Edinburgh to study piano with Audrey Innes and composition with Geoffrey King.
As a pianist, he received the piano section BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 1988.
He has appeared at The Proms, making his debut in 1990 performing Prokofiev's Third Concerto and has been featured several times as a composer.
He received the Yorkshire Arts Association Young Composers' Competition at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival for his composition Splintered Unisons, which was performed by the Prometheus Ensemble.
[3] He was shortlisted for the vocal category of the 2007 British Composer Awards for his work Life's Splinters.