 His classical music education was completed with Claudio Arrau in New York.Soon afterward, he became more prominent with his first-prize victory in the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, followed being a replacement for Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli as guest soloist for the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto at the Vienna Festival.In the years since then he has concertized internationally, throughout North and South America, Europe, the Soviet Union, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and the Middle East.