Dr Dean Southern is the Head of Vocal Studies in the School of Music at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. A baritone, pianist, voice teacher, stage director, and academic leader, his career bridges artistic practice, conservatory teaching, and higher education leadership. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in voice performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano performance from the University of Missouri and in voice performance from The University of Akron.

He has taught across undergraduate, graduate, and pre-college programmes for more than two decades, with an emphasis on developing thoughtful, versatile artists for today’s music profession. His students have been admitted to leading graduate and young artist programmes, received Fulbright awards and other major fellowships, and established careers as performers, educators, and arts leaders across North America, Europe, and Asia.

His teaching integrates historical vocal traditions with contemporary voice science, balancing theory and practice while emphasising technical reliability, stylistic range, and long-term vocal health. He has served as a Master Teacher for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Intern Program, mentoring early-career voice teachers. His scholarly and published work explores the history and pedagogy of singing, including contemporary vocal training and effective practice strategies for singers. His writings have appeared in Classical Singer magazine and A Dictionary for the Modern Singer (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).

Dr Southern is active internationally as a teacher, adjudicator, and institutional collaborator. He has presented invited masterclasses at the Central Conservatory of Music, China Conservatory of Music, Wuhan Conservatory of Music, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and the Royal College of Music, Stockholm. He taught at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, for fourteen years, is Co-Artistic Director of the International Summer Music Institute in Todi, Italy, and serves as a Foreign Mentor to postgraduate singers at the China Conservatory of Music.

Dr Southern spent nearly two decades at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where he most recently served as Professor of Voice, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Dean, prior to joining HKAPA. He led institution-wide initiatives in curriculum, assessment, quality assurance, accreditation, and student success. He led the institution’s successful ten-year reaffirmation of accreditation with its US institutional accreditor and has presented nationally on curriculum design, assessment, and the future of conservatory education. From 2018 to 2022, he also served as Artistic Director of CIM Opera Theater, leading productions that incorporated cross-disciplinary collaboration, film, and digital media to expand audience engagement and explore new approaches to storytelling in opera.

EDUCATION
D.M.A., Voice Performance, Cleveland Institute of Music
M.M., Voice Performance, The University of Akron
M.M., Piano Performance, University of Missouri
B.A., Music, Luther College