Known around the world on the festival circuit. He won a 2008 Golden Calf for his work on Tiramisu's Soundtrack.
He debuted at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1994.
He was commissioned by the Emir of Qatar to write an opera on Arabian history.
His family noticed his musical talents early on, and he began studying piano at age five.
He came in first at the 1996 Thelonious Monk Composition Competition with a work titled Memory of Enchantment, which Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter later covered.
