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Boston Pops conductor breaks down the genius of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
Welcome to SOUND FILES, a deep dive with area musicians and music lovers into one specific entry in the U.S. National Recording Registry. Keith Lockhart joins Edgar B. Herwick III to wax operatic about his love of Queen's 1975 masterpiece “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
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December 29, 2025 - Sally Mann, Jeremy Sewall and being Henry David Thoreau
First up, Sally Mann. In 2015 renowned photographer Sally Mann published her memoir “Hold Still,” an inquiry into family history, the American South and the nature of creativity. Now, comes her book “Art Work: On the Creative Life.” It is laugh-out-loud funny. It’s irreverent. And it’s refreshingly practical as she guides the reader through her experience and process of being an artist. From there Jeremy Sewall, Chef and Owner of Row 34, shares recipes and stories from his new “Everyday Chef: Simple Dishes for Family and Friends,” which illustrates how restaurant expertise can translate into simple, satisfying meals at home.Finally, Richard Smith. For more than a quarter century he embodied Henry David Thoreau—donning the waistcoat and straw hat, walking the paths of Concord, and giving voice to one of New England’s most enduring thinkers. Now, after 26 years of living deliberately in another man’s shoes, Smith has stepped away from the role. Closing a chapter that made Thoreau’s world vividly real for thousands who visited Walden Pond. -
December 26, 2025 - Robert Reich, Marianne Leone, and Sam Waterston
Robert Reich served in three presidential administrations, including as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. As a professor he has been the ultimate explainer about rising inequality. As a public intellectual he pulls no punches–calling out the bullies: anyone and any institution that threatens democracy and human decency. It’s a life’s work on which he reflects in his book “Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America.” He joins The Culture Show to talk about it. From there Marianne Leone is an actress, author, and screenwriter. She joins The Culture Show to talk about her novel “Christina The Astonishing," a coming-of-age story about Christina Falcone and her desire to break free from Catholic school nuns, Italian mothers, and small-town Massachusetts. Finally, Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Sam Waterston joins The Culture Show to talk about the role that launched his career, Nick Caraway in the 1974 film adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.” -
December 24, 2025 - Two Scoops of Scrooge, Blue Heron, Dickens' home away from home
It’s a story for the past, present and future: Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Though it was a reflection of Dickens’ times, the struggle between selfishness and selflessness endures. In Ebeneezer Scrooge, Dickens created both an antagonist and protagonist who went from being a covetous curmudgeon to a repentant man. Today we’re serving up two scoops of Scrooge with actors David Coffee and Karen MacDonald about what it takes to the iconic character.From there we hit the pause button on the Santaland soundtrack to make room for Blue Heron. The vocal ensemble takes us back to 15th century England with medieval music that will put you in the holiday spirit of yore.And Susan Wilson, the official house historian of the Omni Parker House, takes us inside Charles Dickens’s remarkable 1867 residency at Boston’s Omni Parker House — the hotel where he rehearsed, wrote, and prepared for readings that sent the city into a literary fervor. She traces how Boston became a temporary home for Dickens and why “A Christmas Carol" still resonates here during the holidays. -
December 23, 2025 - Ron Chernow, Tara Roberts, and a Victorian Gothic Thriller
Ron Chernow―prizewinning author of seven books, including the National Book Award winner “The House of Morgan,” the Pulitzer Prize winner “Washington: A Life,” and the George Washington Book Prize winner “Alexander Hamilton”―joins The Culture Show to talk about his new biography “Mark Twain.” From there we talk to National Geographic Explorer in Residence Tara Roberts. She joins The Culture Show to talk about her book “Written in the Waters: A memoir of History, Home and Belonging.” Finally, author JM Varese joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest novel, a Victorian Gothic thriller that is rooted in the real-life Victorian scandal when arsenic was used to make decorative wallpaper. JM Varese is Director of Outreach for The Dickens Project at UC Santa Cruz. -
December 23, 2025 - BONUS EPISODE: Keith Lockhart Waxes Rhapsodic on "Bohemian Rhapsody"
The United States has a National Recording Registry— a list of more than 600 recordings that have been deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant by the Library of Congress. GBH’s The Culture Show is digging deep, one recording at a time, with our recurring segment SOUND FILES. In this edition, Keith Lockhart with the acclaimed orchestra Boston Pops waxes operatic about his love of Queen’s 1975 masterpiece “Bohemian Rhapsody.”“Twenty-five years ago, there were all these things that everybody knew how to sing,” Lockhart said. “These days, our audience is fragmented enough — from the younger people to the older people — that there’s only one song I can think of that pretty much everybody in every audience we ever play for knows. And that is ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’” In 2022, it was inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. In its induction essay, musical artist Don Breithaupt describes it as something of a musical and technological miracle and said, simply, “it is now in a class by itself.” On its initial release back in 1975, literally millions of people across the globe bought the record. One of those buyers was a gifted 15-year-old clarinetist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. That, of course, was Keith Lockhart. “The first rock album I bought — the first LP I bought — was Night at the Opera in the fall of 1975,” Lockhart said. “I’d heard ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in airplay on the radio, and I thought, ‘How did they do this?’” Holiday Pops is on through December 24th. To see Keith Lockhart live, learn more here.
