From 1976 to 1982, he had been deputy solo clarinetist of the Staatskapelle Weimar, teaching at the same time at Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar.

After he was invited to be solo clarinetist of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1982, he began teaching at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music in Leipzig where he got a professorship for clarinet in 1993.

He had been on worldwide concert tours with the Gewandhaus playing in the orchestra as well as chamber music until 1995. Apart from the activities in Leipzig, he had been invited to master classes in Italy and South Korea.