Suzanne Bona
Sunday Baroque Host and Executive Producer, WSHU Music DirectorSuzanne Bona is the host and executive producer of Sunday Baroque, a syndicated weekly radio show of Baroque and early music. She originated the program in 1987 on WSHU Public Radio in her hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut. Sunday Baroque has been distributed nationally since 1998, and is currently heard by more than 400,000 listeners every week on approximately 260 public radio stations and networks across the United States.
Suzanne is also a classically trained flutist who earned her Bachelor of Music degree from The University of Connecticut. She continues to perform frequently as a soloist and chamber musician, and has especially enjoyed collaborating with some of her musically talented public radio colleagues in performances for listeners across the country, including in West Lafayette, IN, Phoenix, AZ, Cincinnati, Ohio, across Connecticut and on Long Island, NY, and in March 2012 and October 2016 as guest soloist with members of the Guam Symphony Orchestra in Tumon. Suzanne is a member of the Sylvan Trio, with pianist Greg Kostraba (a radio colleague) and cellist Josh Aerie. Their recordings include the 2020 download album, MUSIC FOR FLUTE, CELLO AND PIANO BY WOMEN COMPOSERS, featuring music by Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, Judith Lang Zaimont, Mel Bonis, and Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee.
When she is not making radio or playing her flute, Suzanne’s hobbies include reading, running, cooking, baking and traveling. She is also passionate about the cause of literacy; she was a longtime volunteer tutor and board member for her local Literacy Council, and served on a community advisory board for a children’s literacy initiative.
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If you’re hunting for some pleasing music, you’ll want to stick around to hear an Orchestral Suite by Georg Philipp Telemann that is nicknamed THE HUNT and other tunes imitating hunting horns. -
Every week Sunday Baroque turns BACK the clock, and this weekend – as we start 2025, you can travel back 300 years to hear music from 1725. -
Celebrate the final Sunday of 2024 with Sunday Baroque! Enjoy Christmas cheer and picks from the 2024 Holiday Gift List. Harpist Andrew Lawrence King and Anonymous 4 bring festive tunes from Scotland, Wales, England, and Cornwall, while Tempesta di Mare shines with music by Johann Friedrich Fasch. -
The Christmas carol “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime” is also known as the Huron Carol. It’s a 17th century Canadian Christmas song by a Jesuit missionary who lived among the Huron people. -
Ophelie Galliard plays an extraordinary cello made in 1737 that’s valued at around 1.3 million euros. It’s been stolen from her not once but TWICE . -
Debra Nagy plays baroque oboe, and the historical performance expert is also founding director of the chamber group Les Délices. The award-winning Cleveland-based group has a reputation for performing less well-known music of the baroque era. -
Christmas Goes Baroque is a collection of traditional Christmas carols and festive songs reimagined by Peter Breiner. It's an interesting blend of festive cheer with the embellishments of the Baroque period. -
Every year at this time, Sunday Baroque host Suzanne Bona compiles a list of the most appealing recordings to give you ideas for your holiday gift giving. -
Music is truly a gift—it can comfort us, lift our spirits, and bring moments of peace amidst the holiday chaos. Suzanne Bona has curated a list of some favorite recent recordings to inspire your gift-giving and make the season a little less hectic. -
In addition to brilliant VISUAL colors, there can be “color” in music, too. You’ll hear a rainbow of musical colors includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, a suite for trumpet – an instrument whose sound was compared to “the color scarlet” -- and music played by a couple of instrumentalists who have the extraordinary ability to perceive music as color.
