At sixteen he won a scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied violin with Henry Holmes and composition with Charles Villiers Stanford until 1888.
[1] For two years he concentrated his studies on the viola, making his debut as soloist with Hector Berlioz's Harold en Italie in December 1888[2] at one of the London Symphony Concerts established by George Henschel.
He was violin soloist at the Leeds Festival in 1889, violist of the Gompertz Quartet along with violinists Richard Gompertz, Haydn Inwards and cellist Charles Ould from 1888 to 1903, and a member of the Covent Garden Opera Orchestra[3] from 1900 to 1903.
In 1903, he became assistant musical director of the Covent Garden Opera and joined The Hallé to study conducting with its principal conductor Hans Richter.
He then turned his attentions toward operatic work, especially the training of singers and conducting.