In 1957 he entered the Musikhochschule Leipzig and remained there until 1962 studying composition under Johannes Weyrauch as well as conducting, piano, organ, and film music.
After completing his studies he worked for the next two years as an assistant organist and a free-lance composer for the animation department of the East German film studio DEFA.
[2] In 1962 he succeeded Johannes Weyrauch as cantor at the Heilandskirche [de] in Leipzig, a post he would hold for over 30 years.
The critic for Westdeutsche Zeitung described his Epitaph for Maximilian Kolbe as "a work of surprising sounds, melodic lines, and chords, a piece that translates the ideas of contemporary music".
[3] Bernard Holland of The New York Times noted that his choral piece Drei Seligpreisungen (Three Beatitudes) was characterised by "long melodic lines with wide intervals, sometimes using them in opposing keys".