DAYTON - Violinist Timothy Christie, flutist Sarah Brady and harpist Amy Ley apologized as they walked through the door at Sky Book & Brew in Dayton Monday morning.

A small audience had gathered around the tables in the restaurant. The store front stage under the book cases and balcony was eagerly awaiting its performers.

"I'm sorry we're late," said Christie, founder and artistic director of the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival. "We got stuck behind a windmill transport."

He didn't really need to apologize. Daytonites know all about wind mill transports, which have been coming through town on Highway 12 for months now on the way to neighboring Garfield County.

But more importantly, the three visiting musicians weren't charging for their appearance. The professionals from Walla Walla, Boston and Ontario, Canada, were just showing up to practice for their two-week-long series that includes several performances in the Touchet Valley this week.

They set up at the Main Street cafe for what they call an "open rehearsal," woven into the packed schedule of appearances as part of nearly a dozen opportunities for the far-flung artists to practice their music around the 11 paid performances and eight outreach shows for educational or disadvantaged communities, including schools and farm workers compounds.

The entire series was kicked off with a performance on Thursday, June 2, at Waitsburg High School. It will end on June 17 at Whitman College's Chism Recital Hall.

Performances in the Touchet Valley include a free open rehearsal at AMO Art in Waitsburg at 10 am and a children's concert at the Dayton Library at 3:30 pm on Wednesday; paid performances at the Liberty Theater at 7 pm Wednesday and at 6 pm and 9 pm at the jimgermanbar on Thursday.

Mor e shows fol low throughout the Walla Walla area. For a schedule, please visit www.wwcmf.org

It's the second year that the festival has included performances in the Touchet Valley, now an integral part of the festival's calendar. What started four years ago as a series of small quartet concerts with Christie and three other musicians has grown into an event with a waxing following of classical music enthusiasts from as far away as Virginia, Canada and Hawaii. Most attendees are from the greater Walla Walla area.

The musicians, 16 strong this year, are from about as far away too, hailing from such locales as the Methow Valley, Seattle, Charleston, Boston, Los Angeles and even France.

Among the musicians' favored composers are Joseph Hayden, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert and Giovanni Pergolesi.

Christie and his fellow musicians are an energetic group who enjoy mixing and matching their selections into musical collages that string together segments of wellknown compositions.

For more information on the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, call 509-730- 5110.