He studied piano at the Eastman School of Music and at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and received his PhD from the University of California-San Diego in 2002. He is co-editor, with Robert Tobin, of A Song for Europe: Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest (Ashgate, 2007), and he is completing a book on the image of the concert pianist in popular culture titled "Dreams of Love: Representing the 'Romantic' Pianist."