A career as a concert violinist had been envisaged and encouraged by his parents as he had shown a precocious interest in the violin at a very early age.

Edinburgh, however, was markedly unfriendly to the English in those days, and its indigenous juvenile population openly hostile to any child with artistic pretensions.

In 1959 he went to New Zealand where he freelanced as a violinist for a time until he was appointed Tour Musical Director of the NZ Opera Company.

He held a number of principal positions over this period with some of the major orchestras and continued to compose for many different combinations of instruments.

He played for the ballet, musicals and pop concerts and on a number of occasions toured with the Lindsay Kemp Theatre Company as violist, pianist & percussionist.