Dr. Dean O'Brien

Biography

Dean O’Brien earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music, with additional studies at the Peabody Conservatory and the Banff Centre. His principal teachers were Heidi Castleman, James Dunham and Roger Myers.  He has served as Principal Viola of the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, the Victoria Bach Festival and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and has played with the Austin, San Antonio, Albany, NY and Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestras as well as the Calgary Philharmonic.  He spent 7 summers in Boulder as a member of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra.  Currently, Dean is Principal Viola and Personnel Manager of the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra and Principal Viola of Rosa Barocca, an Alberta-based ensemble specializing in the performance of baroque music using period instruments.

Dean has performed with many leading chamber musicians including Anton Kuerti, Andrew Dawes, David Harding, Kai Gleusteen, Ian Swensen and Giles Apap.  His performances have been recorded for broadcast on CBC Radio 2 and for NPR’s Performance Today. He is currently an Instructor at Mount Royal University Conservatory and the University of Calgary where he performs with the UCalgary String Quartet, the quartet in residence at the University of Calgary. The quartet has performed nationally and internationally and has been recorded by CBC Radio for regional and national broadcasts, Radio Europa, and the National Radio of Portugal.  The quartet has recently completed performances of the entire Beethoven, Shostakovich and Bartok string quartet cycles. The UCalgary String Quartet was nominated for the Instrumental Group of the Year Award at the Canadian Folk Music Awards and at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

Dean became Music Director Designate of the Calgary Pro Music Society in 2005 and Artistic Director in 2007. Since that time, Pro Musica has grown significantly and started several new education programs, including annual Family Concerts (begun in 2008) and the Talmon Hertz Legacy Series, which engages CPMS visiting artist to work with Calgary area music students.  Pro Musica’s latest initiative is its Young Artist Development Program, which is intended to discover, nurture and promote young Calgary musicians.