He was born in Lynn (Massachusetts, U.S.A) in 1954. He studied at the New Engand Conservatory (NEC). His broad operatic repertory ranges from Monteverdi, Mozart and Verdi to contemporary composers such as Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett. He is mostly associated with contemporary American opera. He has interpreted works by Bach, Handel, Schubert as well and works of contemporary composers played in contexts. In 1976 he co-founded the Liederkreis Ensemble which received the Naumburg Award (1980). He made his debut in opera in the role of Allazim from Mozart’s opera Zaide and at the Boston Opera (1977). He became internationally recognized through his role of Richard Nixon in the first, worldwide presentation of the opera of John Adams Nixon in China directed by Peter Sellars (Grand Opera of Houston, 1987). Since then he has collaborated on a steady basis with Sellars and Adams and has sang various roles in the operas The Death of Klinghoffer and Doctor Atomic. Since the late eighties, he has appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in Washington, Holland, the Chatelet Theater in Paris (Theatre du Chatelet), the Operas of New York, San Fransisco, Atlanta, Frankfurt, Lyon, Amsterdam, the Royal Monnaie Theatre in Brussels, the Festival Theater in Adelaide Australia and the Festivals of Edinburgh and Glyndebourne. He collaborated with the Symphonic Orchestras of Chicago, Boston, San Fransisco, London and, among others, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Los Angeles. He has sang in first worldwide presentations of new works and has made many recordings. He worked with contemporary composers such as John Harbison, Gunther Schuller, Elliot Goldenthal, Robert Moran, Domenico Argento and Marc Blitzstein. He collaborated with the GNO once when he san the role of Richard Nixon [Nixon in China] (2006/07, Megaron Concert Hall).