Paul Dean Clarinet

As soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, Paul Dean has performed in Norway, England, Japan, the USA and Canada.

A recital in London’s Conway Hall, a concerto performance with Norway’s Trondheim Symfoniorkester at their New Music Festival, and two recitals and a concerto performance in the USA have been just a few of the highlights in his career so far. While still a student of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music he won many prizes including the Conservatorium Medal for Excellence.

Paul’s recording of the clarinet music of English composer Benjamin Frankel for German label CPO has won unanimous high praise from critics around the world and his performance of the Frankel Clarinet Quintet at the 1997 International Clarinetfest in Lubbock, Texas won him a standing ovation.

Performances and recordings of his brother Brett Dean’s clarinet concerto Ariel’s Music have also gained international acclaim for both performer and composer. Ariel’s Music with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Markus Stenz was released on ABC classics. A recording of Paul performing this work won an ARIA in 1999, and the piece was the Selected Work at the 1999 Paris Rostrum of Composers. In 2004 Paul also recorded a CD of music by Andrew Schultz for the Tall Poppies label.

He is the Director of Southern Cross Soloists and the Artistic Director of the Bangalow Music Festival. He also regularly performs with brother Brett and pianist Stephen Emmerson, in a trio called Dean Emmerson Dean.

Between 1987 and 2000 he was Principal Clarinet with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and appeared as soloist with the Orchestra on over thirty occasions

In 2003 Paul was a soloist with the Adelaide Symphony and the Queensland Orchestra. He toured nationally with the Australian String Quartet playing the Brahms Quintet, and toured New Zealand and the US with the Southern Cross Soloists in the same year.

In 2004 he was a guest artist at the Sydney Festival and the Australian String Quartet’s Bridgewater Mill Series, toured nationally with the Macquarie Trio and performed over 50 concerts throughout Australia with the Southern Cross Soloists.

Paul has performed the premieres of over fifty works, many of which have either been written or dedicated to him, including Colin Brumby’s and James Penberthy’s Clarinet Concertos and Wilfred Lehmann’s Theme and Variations.

Paul’s most memorable performance:
Playing the Weber Concerto in the Munich Philharmonie