Born in Düsseldorf, he wanted to learn the trumpet, but there were no more places for that instrument available at his local music school. A friend of the family and aspiring tuba player handed him a small tuba. He got on well with the instrument at once, and he stuck with it and decided completing his studies with Walter Hilgers at the Hamburg Hochschule für Musik und Theater.
His first ensemble experience came in various youth orchestras, including the Bundesjugendorchester, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the European Union Youth Orchestra. He became a member in 1996 of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, later he joined the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra (1998–2004) and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (2004-07) in Munich. He is also a regular member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra since 1999.
Since 2008 he is the principal tuba of the Berliner Philharmoniker.
