Houston Civic Symphony experience:
Principal oboe, starting in 1988.

Musical background:
I started playing piano at age 8 and oboe at age 12. I attended Interlochen Music Camp for two summers, where I played first in band and later in orchestra, and took my only composition class. I was a member of the University of Michigan Collegium Musicum as an undergraduate (I played various Renaissance winds), and the Princeton University Orchestra as a graduate student (on oboe and English horn).

What I do the rest of the day:
I have a doctorate in ecology and I do environmental consulting. I help government clients to understand the environmental impacts of their projects and find ways to mitigate these impacts. I have a lovely wife and a charming, musically talented, 14-year-old daughter.

You wouldn’t know if I didn’t tell you:
I met Aaron Copland when we were both at Interlochen in 1970 (he was 70, I was 17). He was very tall, and rather shy and soft-spoken, and he came to my composition class. Luckily, he did not have to listen to my first attempts at composition.