The Culture Show Podcast

Thomas Wilkins, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s artistic partner for education and community engagement and vocalist Renese King join The Culture Show to talk about the BSO’s tribute to Duke Ellington concerts, which includes a free concert on Friday, November 8 at 7 p.m. The performance will take place at Boston’s Basilica in the Mission Hill neighborhood. The all-Duke Ellington program marks the 50th anniversary of Ellington’s death with a selection of the jazz great’s most seminal works, including excerpts from his three Sacred Concerts, featuring vocalist Renese King and a specially formed ensemble of singers. To learn more about the free concert go here. And find out more about the November 7th concert here and the November 9th concert here.

From there legendary puppeteer Sara Peattie joins us to talk about running the Puppet Free Library, which lives in the basement of Emanuel Church on Newbury street. Sara Peattie is the co-founder of the Puppeteers’ Cooperative, a nonprofit started in 1976 with the late puppeteer George Konnoff.

Finally, we continue our series, Countdown to 2026, with historian Catherine Allgor leading the way, with a focus on the culture, the people on the ground, and the events leading up to the American Revolution. Catherine Allgor is President Emerita of the Massachusetts Historical Society, an author, historian and visiting scholar with the Department of History at Tufts University. On this month’s episode we’re looking at the fight for women’s rights by way of Abigail Adams and her famous letter to John Adams, urging him to “Remember the Ladies.” For some suggested reading, here is her essay “ Coverture: The Word You Probably Don’t Know But Should.”