[1] He pursued a performance career against the wishes of his parents, running away from home as a teenager to join a band of traveling minstrels.

He later trained at the Vienna Conservatory and had an active international performance career in operas and concerts during the first quarter of the twentieth century.

[3] Part of a Jewish family, he attended services at Riga's Great Choral Synagogue on Gogol Street where the singing of cantor Baruch Leib Rosowsky had a profound impact on his decision to pursue a career as a vocalist.

Unhappy with the life planned for him by his family, he ran away from home and joined a band of traveling minstrels with whom he toured the Baltic provinces.

[1][3] He then returned to Riga where he was a principal artist at the Rigaer Stadttheater (precursor to the Latvian National Opera) for two seasons.

[7] He then worked as a principal artist at the Vienna State Opera (VSO) from 1909 to 1915;[1] making his debut with the company as the Conte di Luna in Verdi's Il trovatore.

[3] His repertoire at the VSO included Le Comte de Nevers in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots which he performed under the baton of Gustav Mahler.

[1][7] In Berlin he starred in the world premieres of Leo Blech's Rappelkopf (1917)[3] and Franz Schmidt's Notre Dame (1918, as the Archdeacon).

[3] On 12 January 1926, he starred as Hou in the United States premiere of Joseph Redding's Fay Yen Fah at the San Francisco Opera.