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 with a New York bank, 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 language that touches our emotions. . *** After having moved back with my family from Central Africa I left my job as head of the Africa Department of a major NYC commercial bank. I reflected on poverty, war, social injustice and enrolled in the Western Michigan University Irving S. Gilmore School of Music. Coincidentally, the progressive weakening of my right hand probably 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 a decade for business 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 composition - 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, 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 “Tears of the Earth” Op. 63 on Native American text about respect; the left-hand piano Concerto “Between War and Peace” Op. 64, inviting reflection on war and peace; and the large “Ave Maria” prayer Op. 66, for soprano, choir & orchestra. . ***

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 scrambled for food to feed six children while Russian tanks rolled through Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1969).

Instead of studying music to create and share beauty, I studied organic chemistry at the University of Brussels, 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 some Agency programs in Central Europe.

These experiences led to appreciating that 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, at 50.

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 Cantata ‘Tears of the Earth’; the left-hand piano Toccata ‘Exultate’; the expanded two-hand Toccata ‘Resolve and Pride’; and the left-hand Piano Concerto, 'Between War and Peace’. The piano pieces for the left hand are also meant as reminders that with determination one can conquer adversity and project courage.

These large compositions are intertwined with works for piano, chamber ensembles, organ, chromatic carillon, the melody in trio for soprano, horn and piano ‘Come Ye Who Love‘ (2014), and cycles for soprano, or soprano and mezzo, with piano, harp, such as the cycle “Yulia” (2015).

January 2026