Dean Southern, DMA, is the Dorothy P. Schmitt Chair in Opera at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he also teaches voice and vocal pedagogy and serves as Head of the Voice and Opera Division. He has a diverse musical background as a singer, pianist, and stage director. He has given master classes at universities and conservatories in the US and abroad including the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Central Conservatory of Music and China Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China), Wuhan Conservatory of Music (Wuhan, China), Shenzhen Arts School (Shenzhen, China), the Royal College of Music (Stockholm, Sweden), the Conservatorio Profesional de Música (Valencia, Spain), and the Interlochen Arts Academy (Michigan), as well as state NATS organizations across the country. His students have been accepted to prestigious young artist programs and graduate schools and awarded the Fulbright grant, and they have gone on to successful careers as performers and voice teachers. He is Executive Director of the Art Song Festival at CIM, and he chairs the International Advisory Committee of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and serves the Governor of the Ohio District of NATS.
