Michael Dean

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 performance 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 Mr. 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.

November 2021: Micheal Dean Performs in New Album Release Titled, ‘Krouse: Symphony No. 5 ‘A Journey Towards Peace’’
- Naxos

April 2015: Final Note Magazine Publishes Exclusive Interview with Micheal Dean
- Final Note Magazine

EUGENE SYMPHONY’S RENDITION OF VERDI’S REQUIEM A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
“Dean’s punctuated marcato in the Confutatis Maledictis similarly provided a gravity to the work, necessary against the moments when the work appears to fly off the handle. His calm surety lent a firm foundation upon which the symphony, chorus and soloists alike relied upon.”
– Alison Kaufman, The Register-Guard

MSO’S MIXED TAKE ON HANDEL’S ‘MESSIAH’
“With a voice of attractive color and agility, bass-baritone Michael Dean created engaging renditions of “Why do the nations so furiously rage?” and “The trumpet shall sound” with authority.”
– Rick Walters, Shepherd Express

Orchestral Repertoire

Bach
Cantatas (Selection)
Christmas Oratorio Weihnachts Oratorium, BWV 248
Easter Oratorio Oster Oratorium, BWV 249
Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243 Mass in B minor, BWV 232
St. John Passion Johannes Passion, BWV 245
St. Matthew Passion Matthäus Passion, BWV 244

Beethoven
Mass in C Major
Missa Solemnis
Symphony No. 9

Brahms
Ein Deutsches Requiem

Cimarosa
Il Maestro di Cappella

Fauré
Requiem

Handel
Alexander’s Feast, HWV 75
L’allegro, il penseroso, ed il moderato, HWV 55
Messiah, HWV 56

Haydn
Lord Nelson Mass
The Creation Die Schöpfung

Kernis
Garden of Light

Krouse
Symphony No.5

Mahler
Rückert-Lieder

Mendelssohn
Elijah

Moravec
Songs of Love And War

Mozart
Concert Arias for Bass
Coronation Mass
Mass in C Minor
Requiem

Purcell
Dido and Aeneas
The Fairy Queen
The Indian Queen

Rossini
Stabat Mater

Tippett
A Child of Our Time

Verdi
Requiem

***

Opera Repertoire

Beeson
Lizzie Borden (Jason McFarlane)

Donizetti
Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo)

Floyd
Of Mice and Men (George)

Gounod
Roméo et Juliette (Gregorio)

Handel
Acis and Galatea (Polyphemus)
Agrippina (Claudio), (Pallante)
Ottone (Emireno)
Partenope (Arsace)
Radamisto (Tiridate)
Serse (Ariodate)
Tolomeo (Araspe)

Monteverdi
L’Orfeo (Plutone)

Mozart
Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni),
(Leporello), (Masetto)
Le Nozze di Figaro (Figaro)
Der Schauspieldirektor (Buff)

Puccini
Gianni Schicchi (Betto)
La Bohème (Colline), (Schaunard)
La Fanciulla del West (Ashby)

Purcell
Dido and Aeneas (Aeneas)

Rossini
Il Turco in Italia (Selim)
Il Viaggio a Rheims (Don Alvaro)

Stravinksy
The Rake’s Progress (Nick Shadow)

Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin (Gremin)

Verdi
Ernani (Silva)

Weill
Street Scene (Frank Maurrant)

*Updated July 2022