I'm a gilder, sailor, surfer, writer, classical musician and a documentary film maker.
I still dive, but gilding and water hobbies have taken over.
I've lived in London, New York City, Los Angeles, Brussels, Cologne, Potsdam NY, Melbourne, Sydney and now in Barcelona but they were all chosen for me by either music studies or work.
Barcelona is the exception.
Moving to my final destination at the age of forty-nine was rougher than any previous change of address, and I expect never to move city again.
New York City had its claws in me for twenty years during which time I went from Doctoral viola student to Professor, from SCUBA diving instructor to cave diver/underwater film maker, from blogger to reporter for the New York Post, and from commercial video editor to documentary film producer.
Moving to Spain meant speaking another new language, practicing up on the viola again - having left it in the case for nearly a decade.
The Barcelona Symphony invited me to lead the section, which I found challenging as I was no longer accustomed to moving between leading a section and switching to solo mode when the score required it.
I moved myself back into the section as a freelancer for a few years, and also played occasionally in the opera orchestra, housed in the Liceu Opera House. I still teach both violin and viola.
I met my wife, Rinat Shaham, back in 2001. Her career as an opera singer has been thrilling to watch. She has my total respect, surviving in the opera world for thirty years, outlasting not only thousands of other opera singers, but also agents, their agencies, and even opera houses. She's singing better than ever now and her career is flourishing. Her most recent recording has been released: Bluebeard's Castle.
I currently spend a great deal of time in the water, paddle surfing, sailing in a laser 4000, scuba diving with my instructor friends, and learning to wing-foil. I worked as a scuba instructor here for a while, and continue to dive regularly with my colleagues, mostly right off the beach.
I've published a couple of instructional books in my areas of expertise, and also two spy fiction novels, written under a pen name.
The Vietnam documentary that I shot and edited, has been picked up by Australian television (SBS) and is is available here.