Michael Dean

Michael Dean, bass-baritone
Lauded by the New York Times for his “strong appealing bass-baritone,” American Michael Dean has been hailed by the San Jose Mercury News as “the standout, his voice a penetrating wake-up call." Recent highlights include performances of Mozart’s Requiem with the Eugene Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Rochester Philharmonic and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem at the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park.
 
Recent highlights include Bach’s Ein Deutsche Requiem at the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Handel’s Messiah with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Eugene Symphony, Haydn’s The Creation with the Florida Orchestra and Verdi’s Requiem with Eugene Symphony. Other recent highlights include a soloist performance in Mozart’s Requiem with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Eugene Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and returns to the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park. He has also been a featured soloist in Messiah with the Richmond Symphony; in Faure’s Requiem and Mozart’s Requiem with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park (the latter recorded and released); Messiah with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony; and Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Naples Philharmonic.
 
Michael Dean made his debut with the Utah Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and with the Boulder Bach Festival as soloist in Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Michael Dean made his New York Philharmonic debut in the world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Garden of Light and returned the following season for a concert performance of Street Scene. Additional appearances on the concert stage include Handel’s Messiah with the Pacific Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and I Musici de Montréal; Mozart’s Requiem with the Louisiana Philharmonic, Modesto Symphony and Quad City Symphony; Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Richmond Symphony; and Haydn’s Creation and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Louisiana Philharmonic.
 
On opera stages Dean has made frequent appearances with the legendary New York City Opera, where he performed the title role in Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, George in Of Mice and Men, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and was seen and heard as Jason McFarlane in the “Live from Lincoln Center” broadcast of Lizzie Borden. Other notable operatic performances include Gregorio in Roméo et Juliette with Los Angeles Opera; the title role in Don Giovanni and Silva in Ernani at the Landestheater in Linz, Austria; Le nozze di Figaro in Antwerp, Belgium; Of Mice and Men at Arizona Opera; and Colline in La bohème in Strasbourg and Berlin. Michael Dean has received high critical praise for his numerous recordings of baroque opera, including Agrippina, Ottone, Dido and Aeneas, Radamisto, Giustino and Serse.
 
Michael Dean is currently the Chair of Vocal Studies and Professor of Voice at The University of California, Los Angeles.

Photo of Michael Dean by Ken Weingart
Banner photo by Susan and Neil Silverman Photography