Maier's varied career has included stints as an airline pilot, pianist, conductor, rock music producer and film composer. He moved to South Africa in 1999, where he wrote musicals and ran The Soundfactory, his own recording and production studio. In 2000 he was appointed artistic director of the Durban City Orchestra, the oldest orchestra in South Africa.
Maier told 7 Days that he finds it frustrating trying to launch an orchestra in a country where nobody has heard of him. On the other hand, he said, the wealthy UAE is ready for his ambitious plans and can afford them. "My budget to run an orchestra is 10 million dirhams a year [roughly US$2.7 million at today's rates]. In the bigger scheme of things, it's nothing."
