 With a stipend from the Canada Council of Arts and having won the Talent Competition of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he furthered his studies in London with Barry Tuckwell and then in Brno, Czechoslovakia with Prof. Frantisek Solc at the Janáček Academy.In 1971 he won the silver medal at the International Competition in Geneva and in 1974 the first prize at the Prague Spring International Music Competition.In 1978 he won the ARD International Music Competition of the German Broadcasting Union in Munich.