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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."
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June 10, 2026 - Veronica Robles on Vive Latinoamérica, RoxFilm 2026, and A Midsummer Night's Dream
Mariachi singer and cultural organizer Veronica Robles joins us to preview Vive Latinoamérica 2026, the Veronica Robles Cultural Center’s annual celebration of Latin American music, dance, and visual art. The showcase takes place Sunday, June 14, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Boston Symphony Hall. Lisa Simmons, artistic and executive director of the Roxbury International Film Festival, previews RoxFilm 2026, New England’s largest showcase for films by, for, and about people of color. The festival runs in person June 18–26, followed by virtual programming June 26–July 2. Commonwealth Shakespeare Company founding artistic director Steve Maler joins us to discuss A Midsummer Night’s Dream, this summer’s Free Shakespeare on the Common production. The show runs July 22 through August 9 at the Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common as the company celebrates the 30th anniversary of Free Shakespeare on the Common. -
June 9, 2026 - RISE! by the Boston Gay Men's Chorus, Matthew Connors, and Firebird Part 2
The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus marks Pride Month with RISE!, a concert celebrating protest, pride and the power of being seen. Music director Reuben Reynolds joins us to talk about a program that moves from Broadway anthem to protest song, from the dance floor to the front lines of history, coming to Groton Hill Music Center on June 14. Photographer Matthew Connors has spent more than a decade documenting protests, uprisings and places under authoritarian rule around the world. He joins us to discuss his new book, “The Axe Will Survive the Master,” which traces the recurring images of unrest — crowds, barricades, riot gear — and how protest and repression echo across borders. Abilities Dance Boston presents the world premiere of FIREBIRD, PART 2, a new ballet about a magical bird who finally gets to save herself. Founder, executive and artistic director Ellice Patterson and composer Andrew Choe join us to talk about this sequel to the company’s 2021 Firebird, with performances June 19 through 21 at Boston University’s Joan and Edgar Booth Theatre. -
June 8, 2026 - The 2026 Tony Awards, La CASA in the South End, and Jane Eaglen
Co-host Callie Crossley and Maurice Emmanuel Parent, award-winning actor, educator and Producing Artistic Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective, join us to recap the Tony Awards and what Broadway’s biggest night revealed about the state of the industry.Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, CEO of IBA, joins us to discuss La CASA: The Center for Arts, Self-determination and Activism, the largest Latino arts hub in New England, now open in the South End’s Villa Victoria.Grammy-winning soprano Jane Eaglen, a faculty member at New England Conservatory and president of the Boston Wagner Society, returns for another edition of “AI: Actual Intelligence,” with a wide-ranging conversation on how Timothée Chalamet may have done opera a favor, why concert performances matter for opera singers and who will fund opera’s future. -
June 5, 2026 - Week in Review: Horror films, Taylor Swift's Toy Story tune, and Euphoria
This week on The Culture Show, Callie Crossley is joined by Culture Show contributor Lisa Simmons and GBH global correspondent and news host Jeremy Siegel for a look at the week’s top arts and culture headlines. YouTubers are turning online followings into theatrical ticket sales, with internet-born horror films like Backrooms and Obsession making the case for a new route to the multiplex.Younger audiences are showing up for films that feel connected to the online conversation, raising the question of whether Gen Z is saving theaters or changing what gets them there.From Martin Scorsese’s AI storyboards to an AI actress, AI opera experiments and Amazon’s generative-AI animated series, artists are debating where the technology helps and where it threatens human craft.Clint Eastwood may be retiring from filmmaking, Euphoria has ended after three seasons, Serena Williams is headed back to the court and Jay-Z returned to the stage at Roots Picnic.The show remembers Peabo Bryson, the velvet-voiced R&B balladeer and two-time Grammy winner who gave Disney two of its signature love songs. -
June 4, 2026 - "Fairyland," John Carter Cash, and Baking from Poland and Beyond.
After her mother’s death, writer Alysia Abbott was raised by her father—poet Steve Abbott—in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury during the height of counterculture. Her memoir “Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father” captures that vivid, unconventional childhood and the complexities of growing up amid both liberation and loss. Now adapted into a feature film produced by Sofia Coppola, Abbott joins us to reflect on seeing her story come to life on screen. As the only son of Johnny Cash and June Carter, John Carter Cash has carried forward one of America’s most enduring musical legacies. A Grammy-winning producer, songwriter, and author, he’s worked with artists from Willie Nelson to Sheryl Crow while preserving his parents’ archives and spirit. He joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest book, The Complete Johnny Cash: Lyrics from a Lifetime of Songwriting, which gathers more than five decades of his father’s words—offering insight into the man behind the Man in Black.Finally Berlin-based baker Laurel Kratochvila joins the Culture SHow to talk about her cookbook Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond. The book celebrates Poland’s baking traditions — from Jewish-diasporic classics to regional favorites — and reveals how migration and memory live on in every recip
