Where were you born and educated?

I was born in 1958 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I started with piano lessons when I was 8 years old. My mother played the piano for hours a day so at a very young age I became familiar with the classical piano repertoire. But when I was 13 I choose the guitar as my favorite instrument and I started to compose for the guitar. At the age of 18 I entered the conservatory and studied during 6 years with the famous Maestro Pieter van der Staak. After that I studied (at the same conservatory in Zwolle) composition with Alex Manassen. Besides that, I had vihuela and flamenco guitar lessons and became an official piano technician (piano tuner).