Paulo Coelho’s Blog

Why the conductor for the Boston Pops Orchestra avoids music during his downtime.

… Reading?

The last book I actually finished was a Paulo Coelho novel, ‘The Zahir.’ It’s an exploration of what it means to find a true-love relationship and then what it means to be able to stay in that. I love the works of Milan Kundera. I’m a huge fan of his writing. I find it, even in translation, to be incredibly poetic and immensely thought provoking.

… Watching?

A friend turned me on to Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel, which I find absolutely fascinating. It’s about people fishing for king crab off the Alaskan coast. It’s riveting – like watching a great drama.

… Listening to?

I listen to so much music for preparation that I rarely listen to music for recreation. What I’m trying to get on top of is our collaborative artists for the Edgefest [a series that unites the orchestra and popular musicians]. So I’m listening to Cowboy Junkies and M Ward and friends, who are two headliner acts for Edgefest. As a result of working with Ben Folds, I picked up a lot of his albums, especially his post-Ben Folds Five CDs. I slowly make up for my occasional lack of immersion in pop culture. (Not Pops culture!)

• The Boston Pops’s July 4th concert on the Esplanade, featuring John Mellencamp, is broadcast live at 10 p.m. (ET) on CBS.

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