Brett Dean

• Following studies in Australia, Brett Dean travelled to Germany in 1985 and became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra as viola player
• In addition to orchestral career gave performances as soloist including numerous first performances
• In 1988 began composing, initially as an arranger
• Worked in improvisation for radio and film projects in Australia
• Became established as a composer in his own right through worldwide performances of the ballet One of a Kind (Nederlands Dans Theater, choreographer Jiri Kylian) and by the clarinet concerto Ariel’s Music, which won an award from the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers
• Paintings from his partner Heather Betts have initiated numerous compositions
• Since 2000 has lived in Australia, Berlin and UK as freelance composer
• Leading interpreters of Dean’s music include Sir Simon Rattle, Markus Stenz, Simone Young, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Daniel Harding and Vladimir Jurowski

Works by Brett Dean include:
Carlo (1997) for strings and sampler
Beggars and Angels (1999) for large orchestra
The Lost Art of Letter Writing (2006) for violin and orchestra
Hamlet (2013–16) Opera in two acts

Looking Ahead: Spanish premiere of In spe contra spem with the Orquesta Nacional de España (Jan 2025); Austrian and German premieres of Fire Music with RSO Vienna (23 Jan) and Berlin Philharmonic (20 Feb) and Marin Alsop; new sales editions of Viola Concerto as HPS Pocket Score and of the Homage Etudes for piano

"...a voice of fertile imagination, originality and expressive subtlety." — Chicago Tribune