I am the cofounder and editor in chief of the International Affairs Forum and a free-lance journalist. My work been published in Forbes, The Financial Times, the Claremont Review of Books, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, and Business Day (S.A.), among the more reputable outlets. I have written on classical music for The Washington Post, Chamber Music America, Musical America, Opera Now, Opera (U.K.), American Record Guide, Opera Canada, and for the Washington culture-blog ionarts. Before the demise of WGMS 104.5, I interviewed musicians like Iván Fischer, Anne Sophie Mutter, Marin Alsop, Leonard Slatkin, and Pinchas Zukerman for its “Classical Conversations” program.

I grew up in a musical household, with a love especially for Bach instilled from an early age. Although I could read notes before I could read letters, I eventually disappointed the family hopes of following in the footsteps of my harpsichordist uncle, with whose vinyls of Scarlatti I grew up. I joined the Regensburger Domspatzen - only the 14th non-Catholic to do so, but did not pursue an active role in music thereafter. Classical music reentered my life, passively, while I was pursuing a degree in Political Science. I am indebted to Robert R. Reilly and Tim Page, who encouraged me to write about music and remain generous with advice and criticism.

I am a musical omnivore and listen with equal zeal to anything from Renaissance to contemporary music, to opera, chamber, instrumental, and orchestral music. A music library of some 7,000 discs speaks to my general obsession, well over 200 Mahler CDs and 10 complete Ring cycles to more particular preferences.