Suzanne Nance to leave All Classical Radio CEO post
All Classical Radio CEO Suzanne Nance will leave the Portland, Ore., station by the end of the year.
In January 2026, Nance will start as executive director of the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland, where she will join her husband Desmond Earley, a conductor and composer. All Classical Radio’s board will launch a national search for the station’s next leader in the coming weeks, according to a news release.
“I am deeply grateful for this extraordinary chapter of my life,” Nance said in the release. “… While I am excited for this new chapter in Ireland, I will always carry Portland and All Classical in my heart.”
Nance joined All Classical Radio in 2015. The release touted achievements including the 2019 launch of the International Children’s Arts Network, achieving “record-breaking listenership,” and building a “state-of-the-art headquarters” in downtown Portland.
“Suzanne has transformed All Classical Radio into a world-class cultural institution,” said Board Chair Elaine Durst. “Her vision, creativity, and dedication to excellence have inspired all of us, and her impact will be felt for generations.”
This story has been updated to include Wednesday’s announcement that Nance will become executive director of the Wexford Festival Opera.
I’ve been extremely fortunate over my nearly 80 years to be able to listen to great classical music stations from WGMS in Washington, D.C., where I was born, to WQXR and WNCN in New York City, to stations in Los Angeles and San Franciso, etc. None of them came close to the elegance, professionalism, sheer breadth of music of All Classical Radio in Portland, OR. When my late wife Linda and I were fortunate enough to discover this station in 2019, we quickly realized how much of this extraordinary musical gift is due to the genius of Suzanne Nance, the station’s CEO. Before she passed here in Salem 15 months ago, Linda, bedbound for several years, always insisted that Suzanne’s incomparable Sunday brunch program would be playing every week. As I write this, there are tears in my eyes as I know I probably will never have the privilege of hearing a classical programmer with the esthetic bandwidth to follow Meredith Wilson’s songs performed by Barbara Cook and the Buffalo Bills immediately by Kiri Takanawa singing an incredibly beautiful Maori anthem from New Zealand.
Suzanne, may the road rise to meet ya when you land in the Emerald Isle.