Executive Overview
When Suzanne Nance was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the historic Wexford Festival Opera (WFO), conventional expectations of corporate arts leadership anticipated a steady hand guided by spreadsheet metrics: balance sheets, profit forecasts, aggressive marketing campaigns, labor negotiations, and donor pipeline management. For many observers in the contemporary cultural landscape, the modern arts administrator is expected to be a corporate technocrat first and a cultural custodian second.
Yet, Nance shatters this dichotomy. A professionally trained opera singer whose multifaceted career spans performance, public radio programming, and executive management, Nance brings an artist’s soul and a strategist’s precision to one of Europe’s most celebrated boutique opera festivals. Approaching her tenure with a deeply ingrained reverence for musical integrity, she views administrative levers—fundraising, marketing, and operational restructuring—not as ends in themselves, but as essential scaffolding designed to support and elevate uncompromising artistic expression.
In this exclusive interview, Nance discusses her unconventional trajectory from a starstruck 17-year-old discovering Puccini under a stairwell at Syracuse University to the helm of a 75-year-old Irish institution. She reflects on the delicate balance between financial resilience and artistic experimentation, her symbiotic working relationship with Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi, and her vision for positioning Wexford at the vanguard of global operatic innovation while fiercely protecting its distinct local identity.
Detailed Chronology: A Lifelong Symphony of Performance and Media
To understand Suzanne Nance’s leadership philosophy, one must retrace a winding career path that bridges the physical demands of vocal performance with the macro-level vision required to direct major cultural enterprises.
The Spark: Falling in Love with Opera
Nance’s immersion in music began early, nurtured in a household where classical recordings and storytelling formed the fabric of daily life. However, her true awakening to opera occurred at age 17 during her freshman year at Syracuse University in New York. While she was familiar with canonical recordings by legends like Luciano Pavarotti and Enrico Caruso, her vocal teacher handed her the libretto of Giacomo Puccini’s comic masterpiece, Gianni Schicchi.
Seeking quiet focus, Nance crawled beneath a stairwell in the school of music and devoured the text. The vivid characters, the sharp wit, and the underlying emotional vulnerability made her laugh and cry in equal measure. It was a transformative moment of artistic epiphany.
"I called my mother and told her I had met the most incredible man: Giacomo Puccini," Nance recalls. That initial infatuation sparked a passionate exploration of the classical canon, leading her headfirst into the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Antonín Dvořák. Decades later, her devotion to Puccini remains undiminished. "You never forget your first love! No one tells the human story as well as Puccini."
From the Stage to the Airwaves
As her vocal training deepened, Nance embarked on a dual path as a performer—specializing in contemporary American works and Baroque repertoire—while concurrently exploring the expanding possibilities of public broadcasting. Drawn to the medium’s capacity to democratize access to high art, she found that stepping up to a microphone allowed her to reach vast, diverse audiences simply by sharing great music.
Her career eventually brought her to Aspen, Colorado, where she worked in public radio while maintaining an active singing schedule. This period proved pivotal, immersing her deeply in the world of contemporary opera. She notes a surprising affinity between genres separated by centuries: "I spent most of my time chewing on modern opera… but I also loved performing baroque opera. In fact, I find the links between baroque and contemporary opera to be very close. Both allow you to explore uncharted repertoire—contemporary works are brand new, while baroque pieces might not have been performed for over 300 years."
Building a Radio Empire in Oregon
Seeking to scale her impact on cultural engagement, Nance transitioned further into media administration, taking the helm at All Classical Radio in Portland, Oregon. Over a transformative ten-year tenure, she served as president and CEO, overseeing 24-hour daily music programming and spearheading the construction of a state-of-the-art media arts center complete with an intimate performance hall.
Under her leadership, All Classical Radio climbed to the number-one market share position among classical radio stations in the United States. Crucially, this decade provided Nance with an intensive masterclass in arts management. Programming a continuous broadcast stream taught her how to construct meaningful artistic journeys for listeners—a skill set that directly translates to curating festival seasons and building audience loyalty.
Answering the Call in Wexford
When the CEO vacancy opened at Wexford Festival Opera, Nance recognized a rare convergence of history, community, and forward-thinking artistic ambition. Though she had never previously performed or traveled to Wexford, she possessed a deep institutional awareness of the festival’s legendary resilience. Established 75 years ago in a picturesque Irish coastal town against seemingly insurmountable odds, WFO carved out a unique global niche by championing neglected, forgotten, and rare operatic masterworks.
Drawn by the festival’s intimate integration with its local community—where over 400 local volunteers form the beating heart of the enterprise—Nance packed her bags and relocated to Ireland. She stepped into leadership just as the global operatic ecosystem was undergoing rapid, systemic transformation, seeing an opportunity to steer a historic institution into a bold new era without losing its foundational soul.
Supporting Context & Metrics: The Anatomy of Wexford Festival Opera
To fully appreciate the scope of Nance’s mandate, it is necessary to examine the operational scale and cultural footprint of the Wexford Festival Opera within the global classical music ecosystem.
Scale, Impact, and Global Reach
Wexford Festival Opera is not merely a localized seasonal event; it is an international cultural powerhouse operating on an intensive scale. Over a grueling 17-day festival window, WFO mounts more than 75 distinct performances, transforming the historic town of Wexford into a global capital for opera aficionados.
Despite its boutique scale, the festival punches far above its weight class in terms of international reach. During the previous season, WFO drew audiences from over 30 countries, including patrons from Syria, Germany, Hong Kong, the United States, and across Europe. This global magnetism coexists with deep local roots: the festival is deeply embedded in the civic fabric of Wexford, having profoundly shaped the town’s economic, social, and cultural identity for three quarters of a century.
The Symphony of Operations: Bridging Art and Commerce
Nance’s administrative philosophy rejects the artificial barrier separating the "artistic side" from the "business side" of an opera company. Having lived the life of a performer, she understands the fragile, highly human mechanics required to get a production onto the main stage.
Whether navigating cast illnesses, supporting exhausted backstage technical crews, or integrating emerging stage technologies, Nance’s artistic background informs her executive decision-making. She views her primary responsibility as creating a secure, supportive operational environment where artists feel empowered to take creative risks and transport audiences into transformative emotional spaces.
Official Statements & Insights: In Conversation with Suzanne Nance
In this comprehensive Q&A, Suzanne Nance opens up about her leadership philosophy, her relationship with Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi, and her dreams for the future of Wexford.
OperaWire: With your musical background, what made you transfer into the non-musical side of the business?
Suzanne Nance: What attracted me to radio was the thought of being able to reach more people simply by picking up the microphone and sharing great music with them. It was a very rewarding experience, but it was hard work, even relentless at times. Eventually, I ended up in Aspen on public radio. At that time, I was also singing as well, which was great because this is where I got to work in contemporary opera.
OW: Do you consider contemporary opera to be your area of specialty?
SN: Yes, I would say that. I spent most of my time chewing on a modern opera with my focus on American opera. I also loved performing baroque opera. In fact, I find the links between baroque and contemporary opera to be very close. I love exploring new repertoire, which is possible when doing contemporary works and also when singing operas from the baroque period, which may not have been performed for over 300 years. In fact, one of the reasons I was drawn to Wexford was that they focus on neglected and forgotten works, which in some ways is like presenting new operas. I am very happy that Wexford commissions new works.
OW: Returning to your career path, what happened that took you out of music and into administration and management?
SN: Firstly, I want to say that I feel that I am still working with music, even if I am not creating or performing. I love being a sounding board for Rosetta Cucchi, Wexford’s artistic director. After working on public radio in Aspen, I moved on to building All Classical Radio in Portland, Oregon, where I spent ten years programming 24 hours of music a day. It was a really exciting experience, and even today I find it really interesting to watch a programmer at work. You have to ask yourself questions that relate to the entire experience so that audiences can be taken on a meaningful journey. It is not just about the individual pieces you are offering, but how they will fit together.
Obviously, my role as a CEO has many different and varied responsibilities, but they are not detached from the music and the art that we create at Wexford. During my years in radio, I had to become familiar with how to negotiate contracts, how to market pieces, how to welcome audiences, and create meaningful experiences. I like to think that I was very successful in building the profile of All Classical Radio. We climbed to be number one in terms of market share for classical radio stations in the United States. We built a new media arts center with a performance hall. For me, it was like a dream in which I realized everything I wanted from a job.
OW: What made you choose Wexford as a career move?
SN: The world changes and opera changes, and at this moment in time, there are a lot of things changing, and this creates opportunities, including in opera. We now have possibilities to tell stories in bold, new ways, and this is something that exists in the DNA of the Wexford Festival. This was one of the things that immediately sprang to my mind when I saw the job at Wexford posted. At the time, I knew of Wexford, but I had never sung in Wexford and had never been to Wexford, but I knew about the institution. I knew it was a festival that was established and grew against all odds in a beautiful town, in a beautiful country.
I particularly love the community aspect of the festival in Wexford; it is embedded in the community; the community owns it. I thought that is what I want to experience; that is where my heart beats. It has also had a local impact on the town over the past 75 years, and not just economically. The Wexford Festival is an opera company with an incredible global outreach: last year, it had an audience from over 30 countries—from Syria, Germany, Hong Kong, and many more. That was something that really appealed to me.
OW: Do you miss anything about giving up your career as a singer?
SN: I do. Every once in a while, I find my way to the piano, and I will sing with my husband, who is an incredible harpsichordist. It is something that I really enjoy. I think if you are made to do it, you have to do it. So yes, I continue singing, but not on stage.
OW: I admit that I have always thought of the CEO as being detached from the artistic side of the company. You certainly do not fit this profile. How does your musical background help you perform your role?
SN: I believe it is beneficial both for me and the festival if I know the music. It means I can relate to the artistic side of the company and the audiences, who have come to Wexford especially to see and hear the opera. However, I think it is important that in certain respects my role should remain distinct and that it does not overlap with the artistic director’s. I should not be getting in the way of programming. My job is to do the fundraising, understand the numbers, and so on.
Nevertheless, in Wexford’s case, as with many other opera companies, it helps to have a CEO who knows the day-to-day mechanics of getting a show onto the stage. They need to be aware, for example, of how illnesses can affect the cast and how they can be supported, what the backstage team needs in order to do their jobs effectively, and what is necessary to keep up with technological developments. I have lived it as an artist, so I can relate to these problems. Ultimately, it is my responsibility to ensure everything is operating correctly. I must provide the right environment, where everyone feels secure and certain that they are in a strong position to perform their roles, which is to make great art and to take the audience on a memorable journey. So yes, I really believe it is important to have a CEO with a musical and artistic background.
OW: Would you intervene in artistic decisions if you thought that they were not going to work?
SN: Yes, although I would try not to do that. I want to take the success story that is Wexford Festival Opera forward while also maintaining its Irish identity. I am fully aware that I am American, but I would intervene to protect its unique Irish perspective. It is something that I am very mindful of, and it is one of the reasons that I now live in Wexford.
However, I am also acutely aware, thanks to my career in radio, that everything has a shelf life. Just because we have done something for six years doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it! Change can be a positive force. On the other hand, if there exists a mission with a clear vision that produces high-quality art which we believe in, then we will continue as we are. There have been occasions when I have made suggestions to Rosetta. Sometimes she agrees with me, and at other times she does not. And that is how it should be; it is a healthy relationship; she is the artistic director, and I respect that.
OW: When you arrived at Wexford, was there anything that you were determined to improve?
SN: Mainly structural concerns. We have had 75 years of incredible commitment from the people working here and from the local community. We have over 400 local volunteers and the most dedicated staff I have ever worked with in my entire life. The fact is that the Wexford Festival is now a big event comprising over 75 performances in 17 days. It never stops. It just keeps going. There is no downtime. This can give rise to an attitude that this is how we do things and it has always worked. By coming from the outside with different perspectives, I can see immediately what a great institution WFO has become; however, I can also see structures that should be introduced that will ensure the festival’s long-term future. For example, simple things, such as when do we start looking at the program book, or more complex issues like fundraising or our approach to working with international collaborators.
Future Outlook: Artistic Adventurousness and Financial Resilience
As Suzanne Nance looks toward the horizon of her tenure, her blueprint for Wexford Festival Opera is clear, ambitious, and deeply rooted in artistic courage. When asked how she will evaluate the ultimate success of her leadership when her time at WFO concludes, her metrics transcend standard corporate benchmarks.
The Vision Ahead
For Nance, true success means leaving the festival in a vastly more artistically adventurous position—a cultural nexus where opera collides and mingles with other artistic disciplines, and where creators are granted the freedom and time to experiment with forms yet unseen. Alongside this artistic fearlessness, she aims to build robust financial resilience while deepening the festival’s already profound ties to the local community.
To illustrate the kind of boundary-pushing programming she envisions for WFO’s future, Nance points to contemporary American composer Caroline Shaw. "I would like to commission an opera by Caroline Shaw," she remarks. "She is a fantastic cerebral composer that transcends genres, and she is a natural-born storyteller, into which she incorporates electronic music. She is also a very kind person and loves music. Her work tends to be understated, but it is also very theatrical, and I would like to see a work by her on an opera stage."
Conclusion: A New Paradigm for Opera Leadership
Suzanne Nance’s appointment at Wexford Festival Opera signals a refreshing evolution in arts administration. By uniting rigorous executive oversight with a profound, lived understanding of vocal performance and musical curation, she bridges the often-fractured worlds of commerce and culture. As WFO celebrates its storied history and prepares for its next chapter, Nance’s leadership ensures that the festival will remain what it has always been: a fearless champion of neglected masterpieces, an anchor for its devoted community, and a vibrant laboratory for the future of lyric theater.
