Our local Sunday newspaper, The Sunday Mail, today reports: Brisbane-born Brett Dean tied for first prize at the Paris Rostrum of World Composers with his powerful work _Ariel's Music_ for solo clarinet and orchestra. The violist composer is now based in Germany, where he is a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The piece was premiered in September 1995 by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. The soloist on that occasion was Paul Dean, Brett's brother, who plays as principal clarinet in the QSO. Paul, his now wife Leesa, and some others visited the United States some years ago where they were the first foreigners to win some prestigious prize for a wind ensemble. They had a name I can't remember (the word "Movellan" sticks in my mind, but seems wrong). Do any listers know any more about Brett or Ariel's Music? As Judith, my significant other, remembers it, Ariel was the wife or daughter of Michael Glasser. Both wife and daughter were infected with AIDS/HIV as a result of a blood transfusion given during pregnancy. The family had a lot to do with publishing the fact that AIDS/HIV is not solely a sexual, much less a homosexual, disease. Do any listers remember the visit to the States of a Brisbane wind ensemble who won a prize? I heard them on their return, more than five years ago. They were very good. Alan Dudley <[log in to unmask]>