Was born in the USA. During his piano study at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna he saw his first opera at the Vienna Staatsoper. Since then he has collaborated on and directed operas at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Berlin Staatsoper, Bregenz Festival, Salzburg Festival, Los Angeles Opera and the Metropolitan Opera where he has been a staff stage director for 13 seasons, working on more than 30 productions with directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Julie Taymor, Nicholas Hytner, Jack O'Brien, Otto Shenk, Richard Jones, Robert Lapage, Peter Mussbach and Woody Allen.