Timothy Dean
Head of Opera
Vocal Performance
Timothy Dean studied music at Reading University, and then piano and conducting at the RoyalCollege
of Music. He then became Chorus Master and Head of Music for Kent Opera where he worked forten
years, conducting a wide repertoire on tour in the UK and abroad, including a cycle of theBritten
Church Parables performed at a number of UK festivals in the 1990s. In 1987 he wasappointed the
first Music Director of British Youth Opera. Since then he has been instrumental indeveloping the
company into a vital part of the national infrastructure for training young singersand musicians to
an advanced level, as well as conducting over twenty productions and many concertsfor the
company.
He was also conductor of the London Bach Society in the late 1980s, following the death of
DrPaul Steinitz, and was Music Director of The Opera Company from 1990 – 1994. In 1990 he spent
ayear as Assistant Music Director and Chorus Master with the New D’Oyly Carte Opera
Company,conducting on tour in the UK and USA, after which he made company debuts for English
National Opera(Oedipus Rex/Bluebeard’s Castle) and Scottish Opera ( Barber of Seville).
In 1994 he was appointed Head of Opera at the RSAMD in Glasgow, in charge of new
postgraduatecourses in opera training for singers and repetiteurs. Since moving to Scotland, he has
also workedwith the RSNO, the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, The Paragon Ensemble, the Edinburgh
Festival Chorusand Edinburgh Choral Union, as well as giving concerts with the Symphony Orchestras
of both theJunior and Senior Academy, conducting over thirty new opera productions in Glasgow
andEdinburgh.
From 2000 - 2006 he was Artistic Director of British Youth Opera, of which he is now
aVice-President. He was appointed Director of the RSNO Chorus in 2006 and is Artistic
Directorof the RSAMD ‘Song Studio’ being launched in 2008.He has also been developing a
collaboration withthe Conservatoire in Rostov-on-Don in Russia, conducting concert
performances of Strauss’Ariadne auf Naxos and Britten’s ‘Phaedra’ in April 2009 and will conduct
Prokofiev’s ‘War and Peacein 2010. He continues to be active as coach, accompanist, adjudicator and
conductor.
Socialise with RSAMD