Canadian Michael Gary Dean is a composer and media artist who straddles both the avant-garde edges of digital art and the more traditional veins of classical music. His work has been performed in 17 different countries in a variety of formats, including film, performance and installation.

In 2015, Dean began presenting work at events like MUTEK and the International Symposium of Electronic Art. Several audio-visual collaborations quickly ensued, bringing Dean worldwide present fully immersive film and audio-visual performances for planetariums and surround sound. The first film (Liquid Architecture) was followed up by several new audio-visual collaborations with visual artist Cadie Desbiens-Desmeules, including a live show for volumetric projections (Membrane), an installation for massive projection surfaces (Frozen Music) and a short audio-visual film (Previz).

As these past projects continue to receive new presentation dates at locations like LEV Festival, Sónar Festival and London’s Somerset House, Dean’s latest project, Abandoned Pianos, investigates self-playing pianos and music composed for string ensembles. Following a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and funding from Canada Council for the Arts, Dean has published two albums of music for strings and piano (2020,2021) with a third scheduled for 2022.