Then the piece ended and applause filled the hall.
The program moved quickly through several more performances until the announcer finally spoke the name he had been waiting for.
“Next, we welcome Sophia Morales.”
Sophia stepped onto the stage slowly, her shoulders tense beneath the stage lights.
From the wings, her instructor Professor Lionel Grayson watched with folded arms and a doubtful expression.
Grayson had never hidden his opinion about Sophia.
“She has enthusiasm,” he once told the faculty board, “but advanced repertoire requires a certain refinement.”
What he meant, though he never said it aloud, was that Sophia came from the wrong background.
Tonight he had assigned her a modest piece by Mozart.
Simple.
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