From 1982 to 1988 he studied musicology, philosophy and art history at the universities of Cologne, Bonn and Berlin, graduating in 1988 with a Master's degree.
From 1986 to 1989 he worked as a tutor at the Musicological Institute of Technische Universität Berlin with Carl Dahlhaus.
At the same time he held teaching positions at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden and the Folkwang-Hochschule Essen.
From 1998 to 2000, he held a professorship for historical musicology at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music Dresden.
His main areas of work include the history of Bach's reception and - in cooperation with the Robert Schumann House in Zwickau - a complete edition of Robert and Clara Schumann's letters (published by Dohr), of which he is one of the editors.