Brett Dean
composer
Narrative imagination, masterful orchestration and social relevance – it is these qualities that have earned Brett Dean’s compositions a secure place in the musical landscape. The Australian was a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker for 14 years as a violist before making the leap to a career as a freelance composer. Dean draws inspiration for his works from literature, the visual arts and current affairs, with nature conservation being particularly close to his heart. His Fire Music, for example, which was premiered in Germany by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Marin Alsop, addresses the catastrophic bushfires in Australia in 2009. He is the orchestra’s Composer in Residence in the 2026/27 season.
Brett Dean studied in his hometown of Brisbane before moving to Germany in 1984 and joining the viola section of the Berliner Philharmoniker. For the musician, his time with the orchestra was particularly a period of exploring music from different perspectives: “While playing in the Berliner Philharmoniker,” he recalls, “I had the feeling of being ‘in the engine room’, observing everything going on around me. Although I’d enjoyed pursuing my viola studies from a solo perspective, I felt most complete playing chamber music and then in the orchestra in Berlin – an experience that taught me so much about composing.” Dean’s musical language is often marked by shifting soundscapes composed of a texture of precisely differentiated individual voices. He exploits extreme dynamic contrasts – from sounds on the very edge of audibility to violent outbursts. Although Dean predominantly uses the classical orchestral instrumentation, he also calls for numerous noise-producing playing techniques, and occasionally expands the percussion section to include everyday objects in order to create specific, often surprising, effects. Dean began writing his first compositions in 1988. His focus was initially on radio and film music, in addition to participating in improvisation projects. Today, his oeuvre ranges from operas and orchestral works to chamber music and solo concertos, with the composition Carlo for strings, sampler and tape – inspired by the music of Gesualdo – being one of his best-known works. Dean was awarded the Grawemeyer Award in 2009 for his violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter Writing, which will be performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker during his residency – just one of the many accolades with which the composer has been honoured internationally. Renowned orchestras and conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Vladimir Jurowski, David Robertson, Andris Nelsons and Sakari Oramo regularly include his works in their concert programmes, with Dean, who remains active as a violist, also performing as soloist in his own viola concerto.
