Oksana, Daniel, and Russel.

My good friend Nataliya called me a few days ago, and invited me to a concert at a local church. "There is a very good Russian pianist, Oksana Ezhokina, you might have heard of her." I vaguely remembered the name. She has performed a few times in Wenatchee. At the moment, she lives in Leavenworth, and is the artistic co-director of the Icicle Creek Music Center, and a member of the Icicle Creek Piano Trio. Accompanying her were Daniel Schlosberg, an accomplished pianist, and Artist-in-Residence in the Music Department at the University of Notre Dame, and also Russel Rolen who is a professional cellist and teacher, and is studying for his doctorate at Northwestern University. I was excited to hear about this trio coming to town; it had been a while since I had been to a classical concert. Nataliya gave me directions, and I decided to get there a little early, just in case there were a lot of people, I could get some good seats. It's a good job that I did because the place was packed. I made sure that I got a couple of seats as close to the front as possible. Nataliya arrived, and we looked at the program. They were going to play some very interesting pieces, and quite a variety: Gershwin, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff. Oksana started off the concert with a piece, and a little talk at first about how the concert was to raise money to buy a grand piano for the town. Several private donations had been made already, but money still had to be raised to have enough for the purchase. The concert flew by quickly because the music was so good, and so well performed. It was a delight to see real musicians at work who had obviously dedicated years to becoming accomplished. Everybody was impressed, and gave the musicians a standing ovation at the end. I'm so glad that my friend had told me about this concert. I must keep my ear to the ground for other concerts in the area. Grammar notes. Related vocabulary: vague/ly, to accompany, just in case, donation. 1. He looked at me vaguely. I don't think that he remembered me at all. 2. I will accompany you to the train station. We can chat while we wait for the train. 3. Let's take the umbrella, just in case it rains. 4. The clinic received a huge anonymous donation last week. // //