He began piano studies at age 4 studying with Gilda Sant Ambrogio and later Isabel Sant Ambrogio at Steinway Hall in New York City. He majored in Theory and Composition of Music at Yale University and then went on to medical school, discontinuing formal training for 35 years. He continued at the piano in jazz and cabaret for those years, ultimately co-writing and performing a cabaret show at Manhattan's Algonquin Hotel, a show which ran for 8 years. In 1995, he returned to serious classical music study at Juilliard School of Music. He is a Board member of the Pianofest of the Hamptons, a training ground for young brilliant up and coming pianists.