Michael is a self-directed composer, organist, and choir director, who started studying the organ at age 6, and who since the young age of 10 has written music primarily for the voice—both solo and in choral settings. At the tender age of 12, having heard that Mozart composed an opera at that age, Michael endeavored to compose an opera himself based on Shakespearean texts, completing an overture, several arias and recitatives, and suffering a persistent cold that entire winter while discovering his compositional process at the piano he had in his chilly childhood basement.Througout high school, all Michael really wanted to do was compose. In math class, he set theorems to music, and he wrote a suite of piano pieces based on various cellular structures and biological processes in biology class, and during this time, managed to begin formal compositional study at the Tanglewood Music Festival the same summer he was also the Region 1 winner of the American Guild of Organist's Young Artists competition.Michael holds a bachelor's degree in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a master's degree in Collaborative Piano from New England Conversatory in Boston.Throughout college and graduate school, working as a pianist and coach with dozens of voice and opera faculty and hundreds of singers, Michael gained a greater understanding of the vocal literature and technique, incorporating what he learned into his own compositions.Since 2011, Michael has witnessed something of an explosion of musical inspiration, composing over 400 pages of solo vocal and choral music—approximately 2 ½ hours of work. His compositional process tends to move very quickly once he catches the thread of inspiration, something which his spiritual practices help him to keep attuned to.Michael is currently organist and choir director at First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Poughkeepsie, New York. He lives nearby with his soulmate Sheri and his 2 stepsons. When he's not composing or performing music, he makes his living as a spiritual counselor and healer.