Born in Cologne in 1979, he studied musicology and philosophy at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He had his first directorial assistantships in the independent musical theater scene in Berlin before studying stage direction at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns-Eisler. Beginning in 2002 he had assistantships with Achim Freyer at the Schwetzinger Festspielen, with Joachim Schlömer at the Forum Neues Musiktheater, and a directorial collaboration with Jean Jourdheuil at the Forum Neues Musiktheater. In Berlin he staged independent productions of Hin und Zurück by P. Hindemith and excerpts from Das Wachsfigurenkabinett by K. A. Hartmann in 2003 and the Baroque opera Il geloso schernito by G. Pergolesi in 2004. From June 2003 to April 2004 he had a grant from the Forum Neues Musiktheater of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and he developed the staging for Salvatore Sciarrino’s Vanitas within the piece Infinito nero in 2004. For this work he was nominated for the best staging by a young designer in the yearbook of Opernwelt. In December 2004 he staged the premiere of Last Desire by Lucia Ronchetti, based on Oscar Wilde’s Salome, at the Forum Neues Musiktheater of the Staatsoper Stuttgart. At the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin in 2005 he staged a version of Der Fall des Hauses Usher with music by C. Debussy and Morton Feldman.