Susan Graham's encores

Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is impressive (and not least because she seems as tall as that other classical Texan, Van Cliburn). As she stood backstage yesterday afternoon having tea and waiting to go on, the stage manager finished her amplified announcements to the audience (turn off cell phones, muffle your steam turbines, no singing along, etc.). She turned off her microphone and asked the crew backstage, "I got everything, right? Basically no noisemakers."

"Right," quipped Graham cooly, and with admirable timing, "I'm the only noisemaker on stage."

The program, a tour through the wild variety of French composers and composing, was developed by pianist Malcolm Martineau. The pair wrapped up the afternoon with two encores:

1. Reynaldo Hahn, "A Chloris"

2. Noel Coward, "There's Always Something Fishy About the French"