studied musicology at the University of Leipzig, obtained his doctoral degree in 1991 with his dissertation Studien zum geistlichen Chorschaffen des jungen Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and has been a member of the research team of the Leipziger Ausgabe der Werke von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy at the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig since 1992. He has many publications, editions and lectures on Mendelssohn's life and works to his credit.