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Dean Rosenthal (b. Concord, Massachusetts, 1974) is an American composer and performer of electronic and instrumental music. He was first recognized for his work in his early twenties, while pursuing undergraduate studies in music and philosophy at McGill University. He is probably most well known for composing a series of musical portraits of defining figures in twentieth-century musical history, a set that includes work by Lou Harrison, Glenn Gould, John Cage, and others.
His music today reflects a strong interest in mathematics and mathematical structure and draws especially on inspiration from French philosopher Alain Badiou and proponents of the new mathematical music theory and practice, like Tom Johnson, Dmitri Tymoczko, and Jon Wild. Taking a constructive approach to composition, he makes work that relies on realized mathematical structural principles, adhering strictly to objective form.
In addition to his work as a composer, he has created a tool to generate compositional material for musicians and non-musicians alike. Pitch Translations is available for free as software written in Perl.
Among others, his commissions include those from Barbara Galli and Morton Subotnick. In 2008, he won a place in the prominent “60x60” music event curated for the New York City composers collective Vox Novus.