EXPLORE MORE
Exclusive: BSO President Chad Smith defends decision to oust Andris Nelsons
In his first broadcast interview, Smith told GBH’s The Culture Show that the decision to part ways with Nelsons stems from "a need for alignment."
Listen to previous shows
-
September 11, 2026 - 25 Years of Arts and Culture in Review
On this week’s Culture Show, Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Joyce Kulhawik mark the 25th anniversary of September 11. They look at how artists responded to the attacks and to the years that followed, from 25th Hour and United 93 to The Reluctant Fundamentalist. They also consider which works have endured, how public remembrance has changed, and what 25 years of distance now allows us to see about September 11 and its place in American culture. -
September 10, 2026 - Ball in the House, Kiernan Schmitt on college curiosities, and Tony V
Boston-based a cappella group Ball in the House joins Jared Bowen for an in-studio performance ahead of its September 11 show at Off Cabot in Beverly. The five-member group — Dylan Melville, Oscar Hall, Tyler Nordin, Wallace Thomas and Jon Ryan — performs R&B, soul and pop and has shared stages with artists including The Beach Boys, Blondie and Lionel Richie. Learn more about Ball in the House.Back-to-school season sends Kiernan Schmitt back to Boston’s college campuses — not for class, but for the architectural oddities, forgotten traditions and bits of lore hiding in plain sight. Schmitt, author of Secret Boston: An Unusual Guide, joins Jared for a tour of some of the region’s best-kept campus secrets. He also co-hosts the Out of Office: A Travel Podcast with Ryan Davis.Boston comedy mainstay Tony V joins Jared to look back on more than four decades of stand-up and screen work — from Boston comedy clubs to appearances in Seinfeld, The Town, The Heat and CODA. He also previews upcoming performances, including Boston Funny Live at the Royal Sonesta in Cambridge on September 26 and Tony V at the Sea Crest Beach Resort on Cape Cod on October 17. -
September 9, 2026 - Poet Steve Biondolillo, Cantrip, and Sarah Longwell's book "How to Eat an Elephant"
Poet Steve Biondolillo, author of Macaroni and Cheese Manifesto: A Spiritual Memoir in Verse and founder of the National Baseball Poetry Festival, joins Jared ahead of the 25th anniversary of September 11th. He discusses and performs “480 B.C.,” his poem linking the Battle of Thermopylae with the sacrifice of first responders and service members in 2001. Learn more about Steve BiondolilloScottish quartet Cantrip has spent more than 25 years pushing traditional music through funk, metal, bluegrass, swing and klezmer. Fiddler Alasdair White and founding member Dan Houghton join Jared ahead of tonight’s album-release concert at Passim.Political strategist Sarah Longwell, CEO and publisher of The Bulwark and host of The Focus Group podcast, joins Jared to discuss How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time, drawing on years of focus groups to examine persuasion, voters and political change. She’ll appear tomorrow night at a sold-out Harvard Book Store event with Bill Kristol. -
September 8, 2026 - Fabiola Méndez, Mikko Nissinen on 25 years at Boston Ballet, and Jackson Cannon on Pickle Week
Emmy-nominated Puerto Rican cuatrista, composer and singer Fabiola Méndez joins Jared Bowen ahead of Berklee’s inaugural Homecoming Block Party, September 19 near Fenway. The Berklee alum, who has brought the cuatro from her own compositions to stages alongside Bad Bunny, is part of a lineup that also includes Susan Tedeschi, Tiwa Savage, Dogs in a Pile and Dreion.Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen marks his 25th season with the company as it opens 2026–2027 with Fall Experience. He joins Jared Bowen to talk about a quarter-century of expanding Boston Ballet’s repertoire and international reach, upcoming performances in New York and Paris, and a $10 million gift in his honor—the largest endowment gift in the company’s history.America is in a pickle—and Jackson Cannon is putting the brine to work behind the bar. The ES Hospitality beverage director joins Jared Bowen to talk about the pickle boom and how vinegar, fermentation and pickle juice are finding their way into cocktails. His class, Dirty Talk: Brine & Pickles in Cocktails, is September 12 at Eastern Standard as part of Pickle Week, running September 8–13. -
September 7, 2026 - Patti Smith, Daniel Mendelsohn, and Robert Pinsky
Patti Smith, National Book Award–winning author of “Just Kids,” joins The Culture Show to discuss her latest memoir, “Bread of Angels.” The book traces her imaginative postwar childhood, her life with Fred “Sonic” Smith, and the years of loss and renewal that shaped her return to writing and performance. Daniel Mendelsohn—Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities at Bard College, and frequent contributor of essays to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books where he is Editor-at-Large—discusses his new translation of Homer's “The Odyssey.” Three-time U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky joins The Culture Show to talk about retiring from Boston University where he has been a professor since 1989.
