BACKGROUND

Often do I think of the words of the poet Robert Frost: ‘Two roads diverged in the woods and I — I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference.'

At 46, in the middle of an international business career in Africa for a New York bank, in Central Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and after years with a petroleum company in Europe as a chemist, I went back to the aspiration of my childhood to pursue justice through music, a non-judgemental language touching our emotions. . *** After having moved back with my family from Central Africa I left my job as head of the Africa Department of a NYC commercial bank. I reflected on poverty, war, social injustice that I witnessed and enrolled in the Western Michigan University Irving S. Gilmore School of Music. Coincidentally, the weakening of my right hand, due to an injury in the military, led me to focus on composition instead of piano improv and piano performance, and to compose music for Peace. I reflected anew on the bike rides of my childhood, meandering from the First World War military cemeteries in the Belgian Flanders, to the World War II military cemeteries in the Belgian Ardennes.

The Suite “Of Barbed Wire and Red Roses” for large brass ensemble and timpani is the result of reflections on the civil wars that I witnessed while traveling in Africa. This Suite was recognized with the Irving S. Gilmore Emerging Artist Award. Other awards from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo Arts Outreach Grant and the Pharmacia and Upjohn Foundation Grant, reinforced the decision to pursue music, to follow the road less traveled. . *** Besides the first Concerto “Imagine New York” Op. 39 for piano and the Oratorio “Requiem for the Fallen” Op. 50 for soprano, choir and orchestra, inviting reflection on the losses of life, other significant orchestral works are the uplifting Concerto for alto saxophone and strings “Springtime in Chicago” Op. 61; the Cantata “Walk in Harmony…” for soprano, choir and orchestra Op. 63 on Native American texts about respect; and the assertive left-hand piano Concerto “From War to Peace” Op. 68, inviting reflection on the road from war to peace. . ***

As a child, I was not allowed to do music because our parents, still traumatized by memories of WWII, were now enduring the Cold War. They were in tears, scrambling for food to feed six children, as the Russian tanks invaded Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1969)

Instead of studying music to create and share beauty, I was told to study hard sciences and chose organic chemistry at the University of Brussels. I learnt music theory on my own and self taught piano. I pursued a PhD in chemistry and worked several years for an oil company. After relocating to the USA, with my American bride, I earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Following a decade in NYC and in West Africa, and becoming the head of the Africa Division of a major New York bank, I joined the faculty of a university in Michigan to teach international finance and economics. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, I received a call from the US Agency for International Development in Washington DC. The job was the oversight of Agency programs in Central Europe.

These experiences led to appreciating how the paths to peace must include mutual respect and cultural understanding to foster trust and to maintain the lines of communication. I reflected on Arts as a universal non judgemental tool for understanding and respect, and enrolled in the Western Michigan University School of Music.

Over the next decades, my compositions would explore the search of respect and peace. They include ‘Requiem for the Fallen’, a large Oratorio honoring the victims of war; the dramatic ‘Organ Sonata’ culminating in a Fugue and a Heroic March, as reflections on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; the Concertante fantaisie for Piano and Band ‘Destination West’ about the unification of America; the first Concerto for Piano and Orchestra ‘Imagine New York’, about Freedom; the joyful piano Ragtime ‘Brooklyn Two-Step’; the Concerto for Alto Saxophone ’Springtime in Chicago’; the piano Toccata ‘Resolve and Pride’; the left-hand piano Concerto 'From War to Peace’; and the Cantata ‘Walk in Harmony…’.

These compositions are intertwined with works for piano, chamber, organ, chromatic carillon; the melody in trio for soprano, horn and piano ‘Come Ye Who Love‘ (2014); cycles for soprano, or soprano and mezzo, with piano or harp; or Soprano and string quartet like ‘Yulia’ (2015).

March 2026