Brisbane born and bred clarinetist Paul Dean is regarded as one of Australia’s foremost musicians in his multiple capacities as soloist, chamber musician, composer and artistic director.

He currently holds positions as Head of Winds at Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Q and conductor of both the Queensland Youth Orchestra 2 and the Brisbane Symphony Orchestra.

Paul was the Artistic Director of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) from 2010 – 2015 and is a Principal Clarinet with the Australian World Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Sculthorpe Wind Quintet, the Endeavour Trio and is Artistic Director of Ensemble Q. 

Paul was the Artistic Director of the Four Winds Festival and the Tutti Beijing International Youth Music Festival and was also the founder of the Southern Cross Soloists, the Bangalow Music Festival, the Coramba Chamber Music Festival and the Sunwater and Stanwell Winter Music School. 

Between 1987 and 2000 he was Principal Clarinet with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the Orchestra on over 40 occasions. Paul has performed as soloist with the Queensland, Melbourne, West Australian, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Southern Sinfonia NZ, Trondheim Symfoniker (Norway). He has been guest artist with the Navarra Quartet, the Doric Quartet, the Heath Quartet, the Australian String Quartet, the Goldner String Quartet, the Grainger Quartet, the Flinders Quartet, and the Tin Alley Quartet. He has performed as soloist at many Festivals throughout world including the Oxford May Music Festival, the Huntington Music Festival, Alpine Classic Switzerland, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Trondheim Chamber Music Festival, Coramba Chamber Music Festival, Camden Haven Music Festival, and the Melbourne, Christchurch, Brisbane, Queensland, Perth, and Sydney Festivals.

Paul’s recording of the Mozart and Brahms clarinet works for the Melba label, and the clarinet music of English composer Benjamin Frankel for German label CPO have won high praise from critics around the world.

As a composer, he held the position of 2019 Composer in Residence with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, with the world premieres of his clarinet concerto and violin concerto with Jack Liebeck as soloist. His opera “Dry River Run” was commissioned and premiered by the Queensland Conservatorium Opera School and performed in 2018. Paul has been commissioned to write works for violinists Jack Liebeck and Anthony Marwood, cellists Torleif Thedeen, Trish Dean, Blair Harris and Patrick Murphy, tenor Andrew Goodwin and pianist Daniel De Borah, harpist Marshall McGuire, the Brodsky and Flinders Quartets, Katie Noonan, the Melbourne Piano Trio, the Seraphim Trio, the Endeavour Trio, the Australian Flute Festival, Melbourne Chamber Players and more. He was commissioned by the Aspen Festival in Colorado in collaboration with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to write a horn concerto for Andrew Bain, however COVID 19 has delayed the premiere of that completed work. 

His Concerto for Cello and Wind Quintet was selected by Musica Viva to be performed by Ensemble Q with Trish Dean as soloist on their national tour in 2021. Paul’s first Symphony will be performed by the Australian World Orchestra in June 2021.