He began his compositional career at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, where he was awarded a full scholarship, and composed a range of pieces for small ensembles to full orchestra. He also took a strong interest in the performance of contemporary music and played many concerts of twentieth-century piano repertoire, including Stockhausen, Cage, and Takemitsu. He later attended the University of Birmingham, where he first encountered electroacoustic music, and composed a series of works which were performed on the BEAST system (Birmingham Electro-Acoustic Sound Theatre) in concerts across the UK. He completed his Masters and Doctorate in Composition at City University, London, with Denis Smalley.