What a Country!

"At noon Monday, Yakov Kasman's phone rang in Birmingham, Ala. Calmer was on the line, asking if the 37-year-old Russian could play the Rachmaninoff concerto in Portland that night. Kasman, who won the silver medal in the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, was just about to begin a day of teaching at the University of Alabama. He'd never been to Portland, had never met Kalmar and had never played a concerto without a rehearsal. And this was Rach 3. He hadn't played a note of it since March.

One seat remained on a plane to Portland. It left in 90 minutes."

Read the whole inspiring story from the Portland Oregonian