Susan Lewis
Arts & Culture Senior ProducerAs senior producer of arts and culture, Susan writes and produces stories about music and the arts. She’s host and producer of WRTI’s TIME IN online interview series, and producer of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert series, to which she also contributes weekly intermission interviews. She’s also been a regular host of WRTI’s Live from the Performance Studio sessions.
In her more than 15 years at WRTI, Susan has interviewed a wide range of leading artists including conductors and composers: Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Simon Rattle, Wynton Marsalis, Marin Alsop, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Christoph Eshenbach, Hannibal Locumbe, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jennifer Higdon, Donald Nally, John Adams, Valerie Coleman, Mason Bates; instrumentalists and vocalists: Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Itzak Perlman, Helene Grimaud, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Sharon Isbin, Andre Watts, Mark O’Connor, Angel Blue, Lawrence Brownlee, Jason Vieaux, Sarah Chang, and groundbreaking ensembles, including Imani Winds, PRISM Quartet, LA Guitar Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, and The Crossing, as well as people from the world of literature, theater and fine arts, including architect Frank Gehry, actors Dule Hill, Anna Deveare Smith, and playwrights Terry Teachout and the late Terrence McNally.
Susan came to radio with a background in journalism, speechwriting, and law, which she practiced in New York City; she also taught entertainment law at Rutgers Law School in Camden. A former freelance writer and columnist for Philadelphia Magazine, she’s also the author of Reinventing Ourselves after Motherhood and a book of essays titled, What is a Kiss, Anyway?
She lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband, goldendoodle, and whichever of her four grown kids pop in to visit.
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Praised for her "superb technique" and "mesmerizing grace" (New York Classical Review), violinist Danbi Um visited WRTI on January 25, 2019 to play…
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Mozart mentioned in a letter to his father that he wanted to write a mass for his new wife Constanze, who was a soprano. “But there was no commission,”…
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When Craig Knox premiered Jennifer Higdon's Tuba Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony last March, his performance was acclaimed as one that "hit it outta…
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January 21, 2019. In advance of our Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert Broadcast on January 27th featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson, we're highlighting his…
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Pianist and cultural advocate Marja Kaisla visited the WRTI 90.1 Performance Studio in early January to set the mood for her upcoming concert at Woodmere…
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The trumpet was the instrument of kings, in court and on the battlefield. Today the orchestral trumpet is an instrument for virtuosos, and used for a…
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When 1,200 Music Lovers in Philadelphia Came Together To Sing a Beloved Carol, This Is What HappenedIt was a dark December evening in Philadelphia, just a few days shy of the winter solstice. Decked in down against the cold, people streamed into the…
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The four DePue brothers (Wallace, Jason, Zack, and Alex) were raised on classical music, barbershop, and Bluegrass. As WRTI’s Susan Lewis reports, today…
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Praised as "champions of new music" by The New York Times, and now with a third consecutive Grammy nomination, The Crossing performs highlights of a new…
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The First Symphony of Johannes Brahms is in the great tradition of Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn. Conductor David Afkham, who finds magic in the mysteries…