The year was 1985 when members of the Klezmer Conservatory Band (KCB) went on a secret mission to what was then the Soviet Union.  The plan was to meet with the Refuseniks, Russian Jews, and smuggle information about them out of the country.  Dr. Merryl Goldberg was one of the four musicians on the trip, and she used a music cypher to get pass the KGB.  The entire adventure is now chronicled in the book Notes of Deception. 

Here is the link to the Cliburn International Competition for Conductors.