
"Every so often a new work comes along that makes us all sit up and take notice, startled as we do so; Paul Dean’s concerto for cello and wind quintet is such a piece. It is gritty, lyrical, compelling, and in Trish Dean, has a phenomenal advocate. She is well-matched by Paul and the other members of Ensemble Q, a sharp-shooting group of renowned wind soloists in Brisbane, brought together out of the desire to create a collection of ‘exceptional players and wonderful people’.
Paul Kildea, Musica Viva 2021
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Paul Kildea, Musica Viva 2021
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FEATURES TRISH O’BRIEN: I SEE MY ROLE AS DEFENDER AGAINST BAD REVIEWS Ahead of Ensemble Q’s first concert for 2018, the cellist talks about the new concerto written for her by Co-Artistic Director Paul Dean. by Angus McPherson on April 20, 2018 When did you first know Paul was writing a concerto for you? Paul had been talking about the concept of writing me a concerto for a long time, but we’re both pretty big dreamers so I didn’t take it particularly seriously. We do our programming for Ensemble Q at least a year in advance, and he had the idea of writing the concerto for cello with wind quintet, rather than orchestra. I take quite a bit of convincing to allow him to put me in the spotlight, but he cleverly coined it in terms of it being a chamber work with what is, of course, my favourite wind quintet, so I agreed to go ahead with it. He started writing it in late January and as we lead fairly ridiculously busy lives, it was finished last week, so I’ve had to put on the accelerator as far as learning the work goes! Read more |

FEATURES
PAUL DEAN’S BRAND NEW ENSEMBLE Q HITS BRISBANE
by Angus McPherson on May 24, 2017
The clarinettist and Head of Wind at Queensland Con hopes to make Brisbane the home of chamber music in Australia. For clarinetist Paul Dean, the inspiration to found a brand new chamber music ensemble – dubbed Ensemble Q – at the Queensland Conservatorium was driven by “a real desire to get it right.”
“Every group I have been a part of in my life has had to make sacrifices either in repertoire choices or standards,” he explains, “and my partner Trish O’Brien (cello) and I just decided it was time to finally play chamber music with the best players, programme wonderful music and support young Australia musicians and composers – all to the very highest level.”
read more...
PAUL DEAN’S BRAND NEW ENSEMBLE Q HITS BRISBANE
by Angus McPherson on May 24, 2017
The clarinettist and Head of Wind at Queensland Con hopes to make Brisbane the home of chamber music in Australia. For clarinetist Paul Dean, the inspiration to found a brand new chamber music ensemble – dubbed Ensemble Q – at the Queensland Conservatorium was driven by “a real desire to get it right.”
“Every group I have been a part of in my life has had to make sacrifices either in repertoire choices or standards,” he explains, “and my partner Trish O’Brien (cello) and I just decided it was time to finally play chamber music with the best players, programme wonderful music and support young Australia musicians and composers – all to the very highest level.”
read more...