Radio personality Suzanne Nance leaving MPBN for Chicago station

Classical music fans in Maine will be losing an on-air friend at the end of the summer. Popular MPBN radio personality Suzanne Nance, host of Morning Classical each weekday between 9 a.m. and noon, plans to leave the public radio station for another radio station, the commercial classical station WFMT in Chicago. Her last day on-air will be Aug. 30.

“Although we will miss Suzanne’s enthusiasm and passion we also know that is she is leaving MPBN for a new adventure at a great institution in the third-largest media market with a national classical broadcasting presence, so we may very well still hear her on a regular basis down the line,” said MBPN CEO and president Mark Vogelzang in a statement.

Nance is not just a radio talent, she’s also an accomplished opera singer. The Philadelphia native studied vocal performance at Syracuse University and DePaul University, served as professor of voice on the faculty of the Cappelli Institute of Music in Chicago, and appeared in operas such as “Madame Butterfly” and “Cosi fan Tutte.” She began working in radio at WHYY in Philadelphia, and later covered the Aspen Music Festival for a Colorado station, before joining MPBN in 2007.

As host of Morning Classical she quickly became a staple of the station’s on-air staff, curating the music each morning, interviewing an array of guests, and entertaining and informing audiences with her wide knowledge of classical music and her engaging, funny personality. Performance wise, in Maine she has sung with the Bangor and Portland symphony orchestras, at Pops concerts and fundraising events, and has given chamber vocal recitals everywhere from Fort Kent to Stonington to Portland.

Nance will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 29 at the Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick, with tenor John McVeigh and mezzo-soprano Andrea Graichen. Morning Classical will continue as usual after her departure; MPBN has offered classical music programming for more than five decades. The station will announce a replacement for Nance later on in the summer.

Emily Burnham

About Emily Burnham

Emily Burnham is a Maine native, UMaine graduate, proud Bangorian and a writer for the Bangor Daily News, where she's worked since 2004. She reports on everything from local bands to local food to all the cool things going on in the Greater Bangor area. In her quest for stories, she's seen countless concerts and plays, been lobster fishing, interviewed celebrities, hung out with water buffalo and played in a ukulele orchestra. She's interested in everything that happens in Maine.