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I received a scholarship from the Vancouver Philharmonic, and after receiving my Master's degree was appointed to the UBC faculty as a part-time lecturer, and was invited to be pianist for the Vancouver Philharmonic.

During my course at UBC, I applied to two schools in Europe, the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. I was accepted at both, but decided on Fontainebleau and the tutorship of Nadia Boulanger. The decision was a wise one; not only did I learn about music, but I learned about life, and how the two are really inseparable.

Summer classes were held at Fontainebleau and private lessons at the Boulanger home in Paris. Her emphasis on the basics and her concern for integrity remain with me still. We had a wonderful relationship and I was deeply honored to have been chosen by her to play for the concert honoring her at Reid Hall in Montparnasse.

My other teachers in Paris were Robert Casadesus and Jean-Jacques Painchaud. Mr. Casadesus was very helpful and complimentary when I played the Brahms First Concerto at the Jeu de Paume Hall of the Palais de Fontainebleau with his son Jean and Jay Gottlieb, another Boulanger student. The crowning experience of this time of my life was performing for Queen Frederika of Greece and her daughter Princess Irene, also a student of Boulanger. Eventually I received a diploma from the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau and an excellent recommendation from Mademoiselle Boulanger.

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