He initially studied piano and singing in Paris, but as of 1985 devoted himself to set designing and directing. His work followed the standards mainly of the Italian scenography school, but he had a good grasp also of the Russian and German schools. As a director, he debuted in 1993 at the Opera Bastille Paris [Benvenuto Cellini]. He worked primarily in Italy (Teatro Comunale of Bologna and Ferrara, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Massimo Bellini Catania, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Festival Arena di Verona and Festival Verdi di Parma), as well as with the state theatres of Karlsruhe and Saarbrücken, the Suntory Hall and New National Theatre of Tokyo, etc. He directed classical repertoire works such as: The Bat [Die Fledermaus], The clemency of Titus [La clemenza di Tito], A masked ball [Un ballo di Maschera], La traviata, Carmen, Tourandot, Aida, Linda di Chamounix, The barber of Seville [Il barbiere di Siviglia], The ring of the Nibelungen [Der Ring die Nibelungen] (Karlsruhe). He was also distinguished for his successful direction of 20th and 21th century operas, such as: The Egyptian Helen [Die Egyptische Helena], Moses and Aaron [Moses und Aron], A midsummer night's Dream by Benjamin Britten, The First Emperor by Chinese director Tan Dun, etc. He directed the Italian premieres of The death of Klinghoffer by John Adams and Orchestra Rehearsal [Prova d'orchestra] by Giorgio Battistelli. In 2000 he was awarded as director of the year by Italian critics and received the Abbiati award. He has videoed several completed lyric works (DVD). He worked with the GNO once, directing Gounod’s Faust, staged at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (Athens Festival, 1994).