Paul Dean | Composer

Clarinetist Paul Dean is widely regarded as one of Australia’s foremost musicians, working across a broad range of roles as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, composer and Artistic Director.

He is currently the Kinnane Professor of Music at the University of Queensland, co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Q, conductor of the University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Australian World Orchestra. He was a founding member and Artistic Director of Southern Cross Soloists and the Bangalow Music Festival, before his appointment as Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne.

As a composer, Paul won the coveted Paul Lowin Prize in 2022 for his Symphony No. 1 ‘Black Summer’ and an APRA AMCOS Art Music Award in 2023 for his Double Bass Concerto. He has been Composer in Residence with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and has been commissioned to write works for major artists and orchestras including the Australian World Orchestra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Queensland Youth Symphony, and international artists including Jack Liebeck, Michael Collins and Torleif Thedéen.