Alberta Representative
Dean O’Brien earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor and Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music, with additional studies at the Peabody Conservatory and the Banff Centre. His principal teachers included Heidi Castleman, James Dunham, and Roger Myers.
He has served as Principal Viola of the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, Victoria Bach Festival, and Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with the Austin, San Antonio, Albany, NY, and Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Calgary Philharmonic. He spent seven summers with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. Currently, Dean is Principal Viola and Personnel Manager of the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra and Principal Viola of Rosa Barocca, an Alberta-based period-instrument ensemble.
Dean has collaborated with leading chamber musicians including Anton Kuerti, Andrew Dawes, David Harding, Kai Gleusteen, Ian Swensen, and Giles Apap. His performances have been broadcast on CBC Radio 2 and NPR’s Performance Today. He teaches at Mount Royal University Conservatory and the University of Calgary, performing with the UCalgary String Quartet. The quartet has performed nationally and internationally, recorded for CBC Radio, Radio Europa, and Portugal’s National Radio, and completed full cycles of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Bartok string quartets. The quartet was nominated for Instrumental Group of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards and the Western Canadian Music Awards.
Dean became Music Director Designate of the Calgary Pro Music Society in 2005 and Artistic Director in 2007. He has led the expansion of Pro Musica’s education programs, including annual Family Concerts and the Talmon Hertz Legacy Series, and developed the Young Artist Development Program to nurture Calgary’s emerging musicians.