Born 1930 in Miami, FL. Studied with Carlos Chavez, Isador Freed, Arnold Franchetti and Boris Blacher. Following 18 months of study in Germany under Fulbright fellowships, he taught at the Hartt College of Music. In 1967 he won a Guggenheim Fellowship, under which he lived in Rome. He has been teaching at Oberlin since the fall of 1971.
By the time he retired in 1998, he had written about 70 works and received numerous commissions and awards.