Besides his duties at the Canadian Opera Company, he also holds the principal clarinet chair at the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to these positions, he was principal clarinetist at the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil, and then at Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax.

Dominic started playing the clarinet at age 15 and studied mainly with Jean-François Normand, Robert Riseling and Joaquin Valdepeñas, and more recently has received guidance from François Benda and James Campbell. After studies at several institutions such as the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and the Glenn Gould School, he graduated from the Université de Montréal in 2007.

The winner of several competitions, he was the first clarinetist to ever win a top prize, at the 33rd edition of the prestigious International Stepping Stone at the Canadian Music Competition. He is now in demand as an adjudicator at institutions such as the Glenn Gould School, University of Toronto, the Concours at the Conservatoires de Musique du Québec and the national finals of the Canadian Music Competition. He has taught at Dalhousie and Acadia Universities, and has recently been appointed Adjunct Professor of clarinet at the Faculty of Music of the University of Toronto.

Dominic Desautels is a Backun Artist and plays on the Backun MoBa clarinets made of cocobolo wood, and is an Endorsing Artist for Légère European Cut Reeds.