Brett Dean facts for kids

Brett Dean is an Australian musician who is famous for composing music, playing the viola, and conducting orchestras. He was born on October 23, 1961.

Early Life and Music Beginnings

Brett Dean grew up in Brisbane, Australia. He started playing the violin when he was 8 years old. Later, he learned to play the viola. He studied music at the Queensland Conservatorium and finished his studies in 1982. He was even the top student in his year!

Music Career

From 1985 to 1999, Brett Dean played the viola in a very famous orchestra called the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. After that, he decided to work on his own music and moved back to Australia in 2000.

He has been a special guest at many music events around the world. He helped plan classical music programs for the Sydney Festival and the Melbourne Festival. He was also a special composer for the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in Switzerland.

Brett Dean was also the artistic director of the Australian National Academy of Music until 2010. His brother, Paul Dean, took over that job.

In 2011, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra celebrated Brett Dean's 50th birthday. They honored him for his amazing work as a composer, performer, and teacher.

Brett Dean is married to an artist named Heather Betts. His daughter, Lotte Betts-Dean, is also a singer.

Brett Dean's Music

Brett Dean started composing music in 1988. At first, he worked on music for films and radio, and also enjoyed improvising. Since then, he has written many pieces, mostly for orchestras or small groups of instruments (called chamber music). He has also written concertos, which are pieces for a solo instrument with an orchestra.

One of his most well-known pieces is Carlo. It is for strings, samples, and tape, and was inspired by the music of an old composer named Carlo Gesualdo.

Brett Dean's music often creates exciting and changing soundscapes. He likes to use complex rhythms and modern playing techniques. He also uses interesting percussion, sometimes even with everyday objects! Many of his works are inspired by books, politics, or art. For example, his pieces Water Music and Pastoral Symphony are about environmental issues. Vexations and Devotions talks about how much information we deal with in modern society.

In 2013, his work "The Last Days of Socrates" was performed by the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2014, "Electric Prelude" was premiered at the BBC Proms.

Notable Compositions

Brett Dean has written many different types of music, including:

• Operas: He has written operas like Bliss (based on a novel) and Hamlet (based on Shakespeare's play).
• Orchestral Music: He has composed many pieces for full orchestras, such as Carlo, Pastoral Symphony, and Electric Prelude.
• Concertos: These are pieces for a solo instrument and an orchestra. Some of his concertos include his Viola Concerto, Cello Concerto, and The Lost Art of Letter Writing for violin and orchestra. This violin concerto even won a big award! It was inspired by letters from famous people like Johannes Brahms and Ned Kelly.
• Chamber Music: He has written music for smaller groups of instruments, like string quartets (for four string instruments) and pieces for violas or cellos.
• Choral Music: He has also written music for choirs, like Vexations and Devotions and The last days of Socrates.
• Vocal Music: He has composed songs for singers with instruments, such as Winter Songs and Songs of Joy.

Awards and Recognition

Brett Dean has received many awards for his music. His clarinet concerto Ariel's Music won an award in 1999. His piece Moments of Bliss was named Best Composition at the Australian Classical Music Awards in 2005.

He has also been a "composer-in-residence" at several festivals and orchestras, which means he works closely with them for a period of time. This includes the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Wigmore Hall.

In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from Griffith University. In 2008, he won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his violin concerto, The Lost Art of Letter Writing. He also won the Melbourne Prize for Music in 2013.

More recently, in 2023, he received two nominations for the Ivor Novello Awards (a major award for composers). His Cello Concerto won the award for Best Orchestral Composition. He received another nomination in 2024 for In Spe Contra Spem.

Australian APRA Awards

The APRA Awards celebrate Australian music. Brett Dean has won several of these awards:

• 2005: Moments of Bliss won Best Composition by an Australian Composer.
• 2012: Sextet won Work of the Year – Instrumental.
• 2013: Fire Music won Work of the Year – Orchestral.
• 2014: The Last Days of Socrates won Performance of the Year.
• 2015: Dramatis Personae won Orchestral Work of the Year.

Other Awards

• 2009: He received the Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award for his outstanding contribution to music in Australia.
• 2016: He was given the Don Banks Music Award, which honors a senior artist who has made a great and lasting contribution to Australian music.

See also

In Spanish: Brett Dean para niños