Brett Dean

Dean was born and studied in Australia before moving to Germany, where he was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic for fourteen years and began composing. His music is championed by many of the leading conductors and orchestras worldwide, including Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding, Andris Nelsons, and Marin Alsop. Much of Dean’s work draws from literary, political, environmental or visual stimuli, including a number of compositions inspired by artwork by his wife Heather Betts.

Dean began composing in 1988, gaining international recognition through works such as his clarinet concerto Ariel’s Music (1995), which won a UNESCO Composers award, and Carlo (1997), inspired by the music of Carlo Gesualdo. In 2009 Dean won the Grawemeyer Award for violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter Writing, and in June 2017 his second opera Hamlet was premiered at Glyndebourne Festival Opera to great acclaim, winning awards at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards and an International Opera Awards. Dean also appears with many of the world’s leading orchestras, ensembles and festivals as a conductor and as violist performing his Viola Concerto and chamber music.

Brett Dean is Composer in Residence at Wigmore Hall for the 2023/24 season, where he has curated a series of programmes and features as conductor and performer. The residency includes the first complete performance of Dean’s Hommage Etudes as well as the premiere of a new solo piano work, co-commissioned by Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Wigmore Hall and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Other highlights of the 2023/24 season include the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the Scharoun Ensemble, and the French premiere of In This Brief Moment with the Orchestre National de Lyon. Elsewhere, Dean performs recitals with Lotte Betts-Dean, conducts the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, and is Composer in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music.