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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Ahead of a historic performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Macy's Center City Philadelphia, Jim Cotter speaks with Peter Richard Conte, the Grand…
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Jim Cotter speaks with Frank Stella, the prolific painter, printmaker, sculptor, and muralist.Susan Lewis takes us to a new Penn Museum exhibition -…
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David Patrick Stearns reports from the Netherlands on performances by the Philadelphia-based wind band Piffaro at the prestigious Utrecht Early Music…
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We listen back to Jim Cotter's interview with pianist and broadcaster Christopher O'Riley.Jason Peifer explores how the skills and traditions of folk art…
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Jim Cotter takes a walk through The Fix on Colonial Philadelphia Furniture: A Secret Guide to Cabinetmakers' Prices at the Philadelphia Museum of…
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We listen back to Jim Cotter's recent conversation with the veteran choreographer Paul Taylor.Jason Peifer explores the creativity stirred up during…
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We listen back to Jim Cotter's recent conversation with the veteran choreographer Paul Taylor.Jason Peifer explores the creativity stirred up during…
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Kile Smith's Vespers--Churchville's Pow Wow--Arts Educ. in Philly Schools--Shakespeare in Clark ParkDavid Patrick Stearns listens in on a recording by Piffaro, the wind band, and the vocal group The Crossing, of Kile Smith's Vespers.Susan Lewis explores…
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Jason Peifer explores the process of developing new plays at the fourth annual PlayPenn Conference in Philadelphia.Susan Lewis looks at the All-Female…
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We listen back to Jim Cotter's interview with writer Steve Lopez. His story of destitute musician Nathaniel Ayers is now being made into a major Hollywood…