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CBS News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Tanglewood brings talented undiscovered musicians to western Massachusetts
You may think of Tanglewood as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Pops, but that's only the start for the western Massachusetts music center. There are lush fields of green grass, classes, and performance spaces. The grounds are filled with music, nature, and education. "Something really special about Tanglewood is the fact that everyone who's everyone is here. The most famous soloists, the most famous conductors, all come here for the summer," Tanglewood Music Center fellow Kelley Osterberg said. The Hingham native, who plays the oboe, always hoped to study here. "I remember specifically the drive here from Boston is one I've done many times, to go to concerts. And going with all my stuff in the back to move out here? It was just like, absolutely a dream," she said. For bassoonist and second-year fellow Peter Ecklund, the experience of playing with BSO conductor Andris Nelsons is unforgettable. "When you're playing and you just look up in an instant, you can tell exactly how the music is supposed to go, even if it's not how I was going to play it just before. I look at him, and you can just tell, 'no, this note needs to sound like this. It should be this loud, it should be this short.' It's amazing," Ecklund said. "We think that this is the greatest pre-professional training program in the world. I think about 35% of the members of orchestras across America spent a summer here training at the Tanglewood Music Center," Vice President for Artistic Planning Tony Fogg told WBZ-TV. Fogg sets the performances at the Shed and other stages across the 500-acre property. "In terms of the musical offerings that we have here at Tanglewood, we cover the entire spectrum." he said. You may recognize many of the performers, but Fogg said you also have the chance to see talented musicians before their big break. "I should remind everyone that Taylor Swift appeared here as a very young artist, as a guest of James Taylor, a number of years ago. And I think she's done pretty well since then," he said. And there's more than just music to look forward to. "There's, you know, photography classes. There's Mass Audubon bird tours," says Amy Aldrich, senior director of patron experience. "There's Tanglewood Music Center fellows that are performing. There's things for families to do. There's lawn games and, things for kids and crafts on the weekends. It's like a park. People can come in and sit and have a picnic, even when there's nothing going on." Just as the older musicians inspired the current fellows, Kelley and Peter know younger musicians are looking up to them. "I feel a big responsibility whenever I sit in this hall to sound really good," Kelley said. Peter added, "There really is nowhere else in the world like Tanglewood." Still to come this summer? "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert," performances by Yo Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, Tanglewood on Parade, and a John Williams Film Night. For a full list of performances, click here.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A ‘Tosca' Shows the Boston Symphony's Conductor at His Best
Andris Nelsons may have become a fitful, inconsistent music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but every once in a while, he proves that he has still got it. Such was the lesson on Saturday night at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home in the Berkshires, as Nelsons and a starry cast delivered a concert 'Tosca' of high intensity and even higher emotion. This Tanglewood season is a solid one, with the premiere of a new John Williams piano concerto written for Emanuel Ax on the agenda next weekend, a Gabriella Ortiz-curated Festival of Contemporary Music sprawling around the grounds at the same time, and the obligatory appearances of Yo-Yo Ma, famous friend of the orchestra, to come in August. New at Tanglewood this year: tastefully installed screens next to the Shed stage that show the musicians at work, and, by some miracle, enhanced cellphone service. Still unchanged: the humidity. But 'Tosca' was always likely to be a high point of the season, and it was. Opera has often brought out the best in Nelsons in Boston, and the closer to the most commonplace parts of the repertoire the work has been, the stronger the performance from him. Wagner transfixed him as a child, and it was at the Latvian National Opera that his career began to take off in his 20s. Now 46, he rarely looks more engaged on the podium than when he is supporting a singer in full flow. And for this Puccini, Nelsons had some singers of quality to support. Bryn Terfel sang his last staged Scarpia at the Met earlier this year, but he still brings unrivaled authority and conviction to a role that has defined his career. Has the passing of time brought a more vicious edge of desperation to his portrayal, as if an older Scarpia might feel as though this is his last, appalling chance to corner his prey, causing him to act with such depravity? Either way, Terfel's snarling chief of the Roman police remains a privilege to see. So, too, the glorious Cavaradossi of the Korean baritone-turned-tenor SeokJong Baek. Here, as at the Met last fall, his extraordinarily firm, high cries of 'Vittoria!' drew instant applause, and they were far from the only point at which this colossal voice, wielded by turns with machined precision and melting sensitivity, could have earned such approval. Nelsons continues to sustain the soprano Kristine Opolais, his former wife, at a difficult moment in her career as her voice declines. Her sickly Katarina Ismailova made sense in the Boston Symphony's performances of 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk' last year, and this Tosca seemed similarly conceived to wring as much as dramatically possible from the sadly limited vocal resources she now has available to her. She has always been a compelling actor; trapped, fragile and honest, the result was a moving if far from musically convincing assumption of the title character. Dan Rigazzi's sensible concert staging smartly coordinated the central trio, the keenly taken minor roles (Patrick Carfizzi, a fine Sacristan), and what appeared to be most of the choral singers in western Massachusetts (the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Vocal Program). Having Spoletta (Neal Ferreira) search the rogues at the back of the orchestra for the rebel Angelotti (Morris Robinson) was one of several small but telling directorial touches. And the Boston Symphony itself? Making the orchestra the star of the operatic show, which is what concert performances do by raising the instrumentalists out of the pit, has its difficulties; let the orchestra loose, and the singers can be inaudible, but hold it back too much, and you start to question the point. Even Nelsons, with all his sympathy for vocal artists, typically struggles to get the balance right. Still, it was more than worthwhile to hear players like these in a score like this. Take the delightful woodwind scampering as the Sacristan fussed in the first act as an example, or the acidic, metallic slice of the cellos as they hinted at Cavaradossi's torture in the second, let alone the great floods of string tone that Nelsons was rightly happy to unleash as the score took melodic wing. It was hard not to wonder, watching Nelsons at work, if this is not what he should be doing all the time: polishing the classics to an admirable sheen at one of the great opera houses of old. Eleven years into his Boston posting, his tenure remains stalled. Even a Beethoven cycle this past January was erratic, its successes unquestionable, its misfires unaccountable. His interpretive diffidence lets soloists enjoy their spotlight. Yuja Wang was magnificently stylish on Sunday with the energetic trainees of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto, a piece whose dreamy flights and angular blasts might have been written specifically for her. But the same trait too frequently robs purely symphonic works of the vitality they need. Maybe, then, there was something to be read into the planned return of Esa-Pekka Salonen to the Boston Symphony the week before 'Tosca,' or more likely not: The incomparable Finn, now freed from the disasters unfolding at the San Francisco Symphony, has conducted only four programs with this ensemble in his entire career, the most recent more than a decade ago. Infer what you will, but the story was short. Salonen withdrew for personal reasons, and Thomas Adès stepped in. Adès has enjoyed a longstanding collaboration with the Boston Symphony, recording his Piano Concerto and 'Totentanz' with it and serving as its artistic partner for three years, but it has always felt as if a bit more could be made of the relationship. Best known as a composer, Adès continues to improve as a conductor, still reveling in the hidden details of the scores he admires, but more technically able now than before both to unearth them and to put them into context. On July 13, he offered Salonen's program unchanged, giving a forceful reading of Gabriella Smith's naturalistic 'Tumblebird Contrails,' a wonderfully creative accompaniment to Pekka Kuusisto's darkly introspective solo in the Sibelius Violin Concerto, as well as a thoroughly meticulous Sibelius Fifth Symphony that treated the piece as if it were radically new. All of which led to a fugitive thought, untethered to any present reality: If Adès led an orchestra, what might he achieve?
Boston Globe
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
22 bucket list activities in Greater Boston, for visitors (and residents, too)
.bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } American Repertory Theater "Moby-Dick" at American Repertory Theater. Maria Baranova The A.R.T. at Harvard University is arguably the country's best feeder of shows to the Great White Way. Big-time productions of , and many more originated here. But these aren't half-formed shows in mid-workshop — they're fully realized, gorgeous, and intimate, thanks to being staged in the roughly 550-plus-seat theater at the Loeb Drama Center. Lauren Patten's take-no-prisoners performance of 'You Oughta Know' in the middle of Jagged Little Pill — and the thunderous ovation that followed — was the sound of a star being born. She went on to win a Tony for the same role on Broadway. Address: 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge Phone: 617-547-8300 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Black Heritage Trail Black History Trail in Boston NPS Photos At the trail's starting point, the stirring monument to the Massachusetts 54th Regiment opens the door to the vibrant Black community that lived on Beacon Hill around the Civil War. You'll encounter homes of activists for equal rights and navigate narrow warrens where fugitives hid as they fled to freedom on the Underground Railroad. End your 1.6 mile walk at the African Meeting House and Abiel Smith School, spiritual and educational anchors of the community. Register for free National Park Service ranger tours in summer and early fall, or go your own way with the free NPS app audio tour. Address: Starts at corner of Beacon and Park streets Phone: 617-429-6760 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Boston Harbor Islands The Fort Independence returns to Boston after dropping off passengers on Spectacle Island. Lane Turner/Globe Staff For a quick escape from the city, or even an overnight getaway, look no further than the Boston Harbor Islands. Take the ferry to Georges Island and explore the 19th-century fort that's rumored to be haunted; listen to live jazz on Spectacle Island; picnic on Cathleen Stone Island (formerly known as Thompson Island); or reserve a campsite on Peddocks Island and sleep over in one of the yurts. Whatever you choose, at least one island adventure should be on your to-do list. Address: Ferry departs from 66 Long Wharf, Downtown Phone: 617-227-4321 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Boston Public Garden Boston Public Garden. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff Cascading willows, Victorian fountains, sunbathing turtles — it's a postcard of Boston come to life. Not much changes within the garden's picturesque gates and tulip-lined pathways — and that's the charm. From a child's first visit to the Make Way for Ducklings sculpture and pleasure cruise on one of the iconic Address: 4 Charles Street, Beacon Hill Phone: 617-635-4505 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Boston Symphony Orchestra Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall. Winslow Townson At over 140 years old, the Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the city's longest-standing cultural treasures, and for most of the year, the lights are on at the gilded auditorium of Symphony Hall. For most of the fall and spring, the orchestra (music directed by Andris Nelsons since 2014) offers symphonies, concertos, and even opera in concert, and world-class soloists are a regular presence. The winter holidays, late spring, and a big slate of special events — including the annual July 4 Fireworks Spectacular at the Hatch Shell — belong to the Boston Pops, conducted by Keith Lockhart since 1995. In summer, both orchestras head for Tanglewood, their bucolic summer home in the Berkshires where concertgoers can either reserve a seat in the Koussevitzky Music Shed or lounge on the lawn. You should join them. Address: Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Back Bay Phone: 617-266-1200 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Courtyard Tea Room Courtyard Tea Room Patricia Harris/Globe file Sometimes it feels necessary to pretend to be a Bridgerton. You can do this at tea at the Central Library branch of the Boston Public Library, in a tea room run by The Catered Affair. The regal spot still serves cucumber sandwiches, scones, and petit fours — but the main attraction is a tea menu with everything from Earl Grey to a Address: Boston Public Library, 230 Dartmouth Street, Back Bay Phone: 781-763-1360 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Faneuil Hall Marketplace Fanueil Hall Marketplace. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff If you've written off Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Quincy Market as just for tourists, take a second look. The historic meeting hall and the granite-and-brick market buildings constitute a shopping and dining destination unparalleled in downtown. Munch a pizza slice or a lobster roll while you peruse the pushcart vendors and applaud the street performers. Full restaurants, from an Irish pub to a seafood grille, cater to bigger appetites. Don't miss the historic meeting hall where speakers fomented revolution and demanded civil rights. Address: 4 South Market Street, Downtown Phone: Not available Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Fenway Park Fenway Park. Erin Clark/Globe Staff The Red Sox (the team's principal owner also owns the Globe) have for years touted Fenway Park as 'America's Most Beloved Ballpark.' Curiously, the greatest affirmation of the slogan tends to come not when the Sox are faring well, but when they are not. That's when fans of visiting teams seize the opportunity to catch a game at the historic venue, built in 1912, and the broad appeal of Fenway is at its most obvious. If game tickets are unavailable or too pricey, a tour of Fenway is an excellent alternative. We recommend the Day Game Premium Tour, especially if you have kids. It includes a chance to meet mascot Wally the Green Monster and a photo op on the field. Address: 4 Jersey Street, Fenway Phone: 617-226-6000 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Handel + Haydn Society Handel + Haydn Society Sam Brewer H+H (as everyone calls it) musters a mighty chorus, energetic period-instrument orchestra, and smartly selected soloists to present performances of Baroque and classical music that crackle with life and color. Handel's Messiah is a beloved annual tradition, but that just scratches the surface; throughout the season, the orchestra offers refreshingly eclectic programs of concertos, cantatas, symphonies, oratorios, and more, making the old new again with every outing. Now that's worth a 'hallelujah.' Address: Performances usually at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall or Symphony Hall Phone: 617-262-1815 Find online: Advertisement .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Harvard Art Museums Harvard Art Museums. David Lyon Harvard's art museums became one roughly a decade ago, in the airy Renzo Piano-designed addition and redux of its storied Fogg Museum on Quincy Street. What lies inside is nothing short of a world-class institution that, true to form, continues to push forward with innovative treatments of its renowned collection that probe the outer limits of a museum's place in the world. Here, everything from the Renaissance to German Expressionism to Impressionism — to one of the most thoughtful collections of American Modernism in the country — rub up against contemporary art, thought, and self-examination in a way that routinely makes for one of the most stimulating museum-going experiences in the world. Oh, and did we mention? It's always free. Address: 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge Phone: 617-495-9400 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Hub Town Tours Hub Town Tours in Boston Krishna Hemant Durgasharan Even history buffs (and longtime locals) will learn a thing or two on a Hub Town Tour. On the jaunt that follows the Freedom Trail, guides shape their passion for history into a compelling narrative that dramatizes the events leading up to the American Revolution. Small groups spark conversation and make it easier to navigate crowded sidewalks. Want to learn more? Check the schedule for a Beacon Hill walk that elucidates the Civil War and the Abolitionist movement. Address: Start at Boston Common, opposite 50 Beacon Street, Downtown Phone: 844-482-8696 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Institute of Contemporary Art The ICA Watershed. Lane Turner/Globe Staff There's so much to love at the Institute of Contemporary Art, you need a ferry to see it all. At its main building in the Seaport, stroll the mix of contemporary works and soak in the breathtaking view from its glass overlook. The ICA Watershed (open from late May through Labor Day) across the harbor in East Boston deepens the experience. Housed in a former copper pipe factory, its seasonal, large-scale exhibits are immersive and free. A water shuttle ($20 for non-member adults, ticket includes general ICA admission) operates between the two. Address: 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Seaport Phone: 617-478-3100 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff A confection of eccentricity, this faux Venetian palazzo on the fringe of the Fenway was first Mrs. Gardner's home and then, once it was packed full enough of jaw-dropping European paintings to be a museum, it, well, became a museum. (Mrs. Gardner lived in suites upstairs the last years of her life as the public perused her collection below.) A perennial magnet for tourists, locals may tire a tad of the palazzo's static display (a display studded, it should be said, with Titian, Botticelli, Rembrandt, and Sargent, to name a few; just goes to show how spoiled for art we are in this town). But if that's the case, the museum's vibrant temporary exhibition space in its Renzo Piano-designed contemporary wing keeps things fresh, as does a robust roster of concerts, lectures, and performances in its state-of-the-art theater. Address: 25 Evans Way, Fenway Phone: 617-566-1401 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Jacque's Cabaret A performer at Jacques Cabaret. Jodi Hilton for The Boston Globe The nightly drag shows at Jacque's Cabaret are the old heel-stomping grounds of famous Boston-bred queens Katya, Jujubee, and Plane Jane. With shows such as The Dollhouse featuring an all-trans cast and MT Hart's open-stage Drag Stroll welcoming 'drag kings, queens, and things,' Jacque's continues its legacy as a hotbed for the up-and-comings of the drag world as well as established local favorites. Come with cash for tips; leave with photos (tag those queens!), glitter in unexpected places, and a little piece of drag herstory from Boston's oldest operating LGBTQ establishment. Address: 79 Broadway Street, Theater District Phone: 617-426-8902 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff More than six decades have elapsed since Massachusetts sent one of its own to the White House, but those glory years of energy, hope, and limitless possibility still burn brightly at the Kennedy Library and Museum. Relive the launch of the Peace Corps and space program, chat about glamorous state events, see the stark challenges of Cold War diplomacy, and watch Kennedy's mesmerizing command of the television medium. Address: Columbia Point, Dorchester Phone: 617-514-1600 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery. A cemetery?! Your out-of-town guests may initially be alarmed by the idea of such an outing, but just wait til they wander through this 175-acre oasis of willows, secret gardens, rococo tombs, and monuments. Serene and exquisitely landscaped, Mount Auburn Cemetery is part arboretum, part wildlife sanctuary, and entirely fascinating. The venerable burial ground is the final resting place for an extraordinary array of folks, including abolitionist Harriet Jacobs, Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, painter Winslow Homer, pioneering cookbook author Fannie Farmer, writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and many more. Rain or shine, this is a special place to visit. Address: 580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge Phone: 617-547-7105 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Museum of Fine Arts, Boston An exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts. Jack Kaplan for the Boston Globe Already one of the most important museums in the country, the MFA's overhauls of its core collections in the past few years have helped make it more whole than it's been in ages: Visit the recent re-dos of its best-on-the-planet displays of Greek and Roman, Egyptian Pyramid Age, and Japanese art, and marvel at rare and special pieces. Its American and European collections are icing on the cake: Replete with Van Goghs, Monets, Gauguins, Copleys, and Sargents — to name but a few — a day is never enough to work your way through its myriad riches. Plan a week, and you'll still be coming back for more. Address: 465 Huntington Avenue, Fenway Phone: 617-267-9300 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } Paddle Boston Paddling on the Charles River. David L Ryan/Globe Staff For visitors and longtime residents, a paddle on the Charles River, Mystic River, or Boston Harbor offers a new perspective on the city. With several locations including in Allston, Cambridge, and Somerville, Paddle Boston rents out canoes, kayaks, and paddle boards and also offers group outings and guided tours. Nothing says Boston quite like paddling alongside a collegiate crew or duck boat. Address: 1071 Soldiers Field Road, Allston Phone: 617-965-5110 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } SoWa Open Market SoWa Open Market There are few more pleasant ways to occupy a summer Sunday than meandering, iced coffee in hand, among the dozens and dozens of artisan stalls, farm stands, and food trucks of SoWa Open Market. But all year 'round, the (indoor) SoWa Vintage Market next door is a labyrinth spilling over: gorgeous mid-century modern armchairs jostle for space with chipped beer mugs, vintage ball gowns, and old license plates. It's a magpie's heaven. Address: 500 Harrison Avenue, South End Phone: 857-378-4449 Find online: Related : .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } The Sports Museum The Sports Museum at TD Garden. Fittingly, Boston sports history is celebrated in the same building where much of it has been made. The Sports Museum can be found mainly on levels 5 and 6 of TD Garden, a few elevator stops up from where the Bruins and Celtics play on level 3. Displays include a tribute to the 'Impossible Dream' 1967 Red Sox, and of course, an homage to Boston's most recent sports champion, the 2024 Celtics. Both Sports Museum and TD Garden Arena tours are being offered this summer, and all now include a visit to Boston Bruins Heritage Hall, an experiential venue celebrating a century of Bruins hockey. Address: 100 Legends Way, West End Phone: 617-212-6814 Find online: .bofbpic img { width: 100%; height: auto; } USS Constitution and USS Cassin Young The USS Constitution. Erin Clark/Globe Staff The oldest active warship in the world is a definite Boston must-see. The USS Constitution earned her 'Old Ironsides' nickname in the War of 1812 because British cannonballs bounced off her hull. Once you've trod the wooden decks of this majestic relic of the Age of Sail—it's free, but ID required for adults—be sure to board the USS Cassin Young (closed mid-November to late May). This World War II-era destroyer elucidates the dramatic changes in naval warfare over more than a century and a half. Address: 1 Constitution Road, Charlestown Phone: 617-426-1812 Find online: Boston Globe Best of the Best winners for 2025 were selected by Globe newsroom staff and correspondents, and limited to Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline. 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Harvard Business Review
07-07-2025
- General
- Harvard Business Review
Research: When It's Time to Leave a Career You're Passionate About
From commencement speeches to career advice columns, the call to 'follow your passion' is all around us. The advice, increasingly doled out and internalized, is clear: Find work you love, and pursue it relentlessly. But a wealth of research shows that we don't often get it right on the first try. Pursuing a passion can leave you burned out or misaligned with who you've become. Consider Elizabeth Rowe, a world-leading flutist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who decided at age 50 that she wanted to pursue a different passion. To fully dedicate herself to something new, she felt that she had to quit music—something she has pursued since she was a child. But this felt antithetical to everything she's always been told: to persevere and keep going no matter how tough things got. Rowe struggled for years before finally pulling the plug, and is now (belatedly) thriving in her second career as a leadership coach. So, why is it so difficult for people to give up on something that they are—or were—passionate about? In our newly published research, we reveal one key barrier: worrying about being judged for walking away from a pursuit of passion. Whether it's a teacher reconsidering the classroom or a nurse thinking about leaving medicine, people worry that others will see them as immoral and incompetent for quitting their passion. As the author and former journalist Simone Stolzoff noted in an interview, 'I felt guilty. I felt that I was abandoning a calling. … Will my colleagues and my coworkers ever forgive me?' But here's the twist: these fears are often misplaced. The Research In one study, we asked full-time employees who were passionate about their work to imagine giving up on it. We then asked them to predict how others would judge their moral character and competence for making that choice. In a separate sample of participants, we asked third-party observers to evaluate these same professionals for giving up on their passion. The difference was striking: Passion pursuers expected to be judged far more harshly than they were actually judged for giving up on their current passion. We found this effect was unique to giving up on a passion. Specifically, when people were asked about giving up on work they were less passionate about (something akin to a job that is pursued to pay the bills), their expected judgments were well-calibrated with how others actually judged them for giving up. Why the disconnect? We found that passion pursuers ruminated on all of the reasons why stepping away from their first passion signified that they were a failure. In contrast, observers—unburdened by the emotional weight of the decision—had a different view: They were more likely to view giving up as an opportunity to reengage with something better aligned with the passion pursuer. Said differently, the passion pursuers viewed giving up as 'the end of the line,' while third-party observers viewed it as 'a stop along the way,' a necessary yet courageous step to continue pursuing what matters over the course of one's career. Crucially, we found that these anticipated negative judgments didn't just affect people's internal narratives—they also shaped how they intended to behave. In a study with PhD students highly passionate for their studies, we found that the more they feared being judged for giving up on their PhD, the less likely they intended to speak up about exploitative or unjust conditions in their programs. Speaking up about such conditions suggests dissatisfaction with one's pursuit of passion, which may have led students to worry that speaking up could be interpreted as walking away from their current passion. This pattern is not unique to academia: we observed similar dynamics among samples of teachers and nurses. In another study, we found a way to reduce this fear of judgement. We recruited teachers who are—or once were—passionate about their work, and had thought about giving up on teaching in the past 12 months. We told half of them that people overestimate how harshly observers will view them for giving up on their passion for work. After providing this information, we measured their behavioral intentions 14 days later and found that they intended to engage in more actions related to giving up than the control group, such as creating a plan to quit and finding a resume coach. Thus, equipping people with the knowledge that their social concerns for giving up are misplaced may help people make the jump to pursue their next passion. The Takeaways People flourish when they see their careers as evolving journeys rather than fixed destinations, and yet so much of the discourse around passion pursuit focuses on ceaseless perseverance. We suggest reframing the discourse to emphasize that passion pursuit can have many stops along the way. Some pursuits of passion become less tenable over time as life circumstances change. Similarly, what one is passionate about today may change in the future. Both may require a pivot, and this should be seen less as giving up on a passion and more as a stop along the way of pursuing one's next venture. If you're someone pursuing your passion and thinking about quitting, ask yourself: Are you staying because you want to—or because you're afraid of what others will think? It's easy to assume that walking away signals weakness. But our research shows the opposite: people view those who give up on a passion far more positively than predicted. Giving up on a passion can be really difficult. After all, the time and effort invested is hard to part from. But it isn't necessarily giving up on yourself. It may be the first step toward something more aligned with who you are.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Karl E. Held Dies: A Producer Of Broadway-Bound ‘Kowalski' Was 63
Karl E. Held, a longtime arts advocate who was a producer on the Tony Award-nominated 2009 Broadway production of Ragtime and most recently on the Off Broadway hit Kowalski, died of a heart attack June 23 in New York City shortly after attending a performance at Carnegie Hall. He was 63. His death was announced by a spokesperson for Kowalski. Gregg Ostrin's comedy, about the first meeting between Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando, ran in January and February at Off Broadway's Duke on 42nd Street. Producers recently announced their intentions to move Kowalski to Broadway. More from Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries Mark Brokaw Dies: 'This Is Our Youth', 'How I Learned To Drive' Director Was 66 'Phantom' Spin-Off 'Masquerade' Sells Out Six Weeks Of Previews In Three Hours; Additional Dates To Be Announced Karl Edward Held was born on June 7, 1962, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (as an adult he split his time between New York City, Hollywood and his hometown). In 1990 he joined Emmy Award-winning producer Roger Englander and Freddie Gershon of Music Theatre International to create an acclaimed video series capturing the conception and creation of Broadway shows with their original creators. The series featured conversations about musicals including George Gershwin's works, Stephen Sondheim's Assassins and Into the Woods, Kander and Ebb's And the World Goes Round, She Loves Me, Starting Here, Starting Now, Forever Plaid, Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Misérables, and George Abbott's The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees. Throughout his career Held collaborated on various projects with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Spoleto Festivals (Charleston, SC, and Spoleto, Italy), Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Seiji Ozawa, John Williams, Frank Wildhorn, Yo-Yo Ma, Harry Belafonte, Betty Buckley, Elaine Stritch, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He also produced projects with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Princeton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Gettysburg College, Westminster Choir College, and the American Boychoir School. In 2009 Held joined the Broadway producing team of the Terrence McNally-Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens Ragtime. Tony-nominated for Best Musical, the production took home four Tonys (Best Book, Best Score, Best Orchestrations and, for Audra McDonald, Best Featured Actress/Musical). Other New York theater credits included Into the Woods (1989) and White's Lies (2010). Beyond the theater, Held's producing work extended to major civic and cultural events, serving clients such as the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, the Pennsylvania Governor's Arts and Humanities Councils, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Citizens for the Arts, the National Trust, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2005, Held led the renovation and gala reopening of the Gettysburg's historic Majestic Theater, transforming the 1925 vaudeville house into a state-of-the-art performing arts facility. He also spearheaded the creation and launch of the Gettysburg Festival, a ten-day interdisciplinary arts festival, and founded The Ambassadors Series, an international concert and lecture series at Gettysburg College. In 2007, he produced the Governor's Arts Awards at the Majestic at the invitation of then-Governor Ed Rendell. Other projects included a four-CD box set of Sondheim's works for the composer's 80th birthday, and a 15-year archival project with composer Alice Parker, supported by the NEA. He also served on national councils for The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, including its 25th Anniversary Celebrations in 1996. From 2005 to 2010, he was instrumental in bringing the Leonard Bernstein Center for Artful Learning from the Grammy Foundation in Los Angeles to Gettysburg College. Held served as President and CEO of The American Boychoir School and was the founding executive director of the Princeton Center for Arts and Education. He also served as Senior Advisor to the President of Gettysburg College from 1997 to 2009, working with three administrations, and held leadership roles with the Adams County Arts Council, the National Trust for Historic Gettysburg, the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and the Nassau Club in Princeton. He is survived by brother Michael Held of Las Vegas. Memorial services will be held in both New York City and Gettysburg. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Adams County Arts Council or any organization supporting the arts. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
