A Prairie Home Companion: February 21, 2004

Special Guests
Saturday, February 21, 2004

Susan Graham is one of America's premier opera singers. Born in Roswell, New Mexico and raised in Midland, Texas, she studied at Texas Tech University and the Manhattan School of Music. She won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her debut in 1991. She originated the role of Sister Helen Prejean in the operatic adaptation of the book Dead Man Walking in 2000. Graham has toured Europe and Canada, and made her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2003. She has also released numerous recordings, including cast albums and solo records. She was named Musical America's Vocalist of the Year in December 2003. Most recently, she sang the title role in the Metropolitan Opera's production of The Merry Widow.

More on Susan Graham:
• Review: Susan Graham at Carnegie Hall
• "A Talk with Mezzo-Soprano Susan Graham"

Boston's Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1978 by Harvard chaplain Larry Hill. It is one of only four cooperative orchestras in the United States. The organization is run by its musicians, some of whom also perform with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the Boston Ballet, Handel and Haydn Society, and the Boston Lyric Opera. The musicians, along with the conductor also choose the music the orchestra plays and whom to invite as guest artists. The orchestra often performs seldom-heard works by well-known composers, and is dedicated to making classical music available to the whole community.

Annie Raines grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and took up the harmonica at the age of 17, influenced by the trademark sounds of Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Sonny Boy Williamson. She has been performing and recording with country blues master Paul Rishell for the last 11 years. The two have performed at numerous festivals in the U.S. and Europe and recorded three CDs together for Tone-Cool Records, including the W.C. Handy Award-winning Moving to the Country. Their newest album, Goin' Home, will be released in 2004. She has also recorded with John Sebastian & the J Band, Rory Block, and former band-mate Susan Tedeschi. Raines and Rishell are currently touring as a duo and leading a band called Annie Raines & the Hurricanes. Annie also sings and plays piano, mandolin, organ and Hawaiian Mandolin Harp.