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Dr. Gregory Skomal Guest Conductor
hat’s scarier, swimming with great white sharks or conducting the Boston Pops? If you’re marine biologist Dr. Gregory Skomal, the answer is easy. “I feel a lot more comfortable around sharks than being up on stage,” he laughed. “I’ve been doing this shark stuff a long time. It’s my 30th anniversary with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries this year so I’ve gotten really comfortable around them. This event is probably going to take me out of my comfort zone a little bit.” Despite that uncertainty, this year’s guest conductor for the 32nd Annual Citizens Bank Pops by the Sea knows that like the great white sharks he studies, Cape audiences (probably) won’t harm him. “I absolutely can’t wait,” Dr. Skomal said. “I’m deeply honored. I’m wondering what it’s going to be like to be up there with a baton in my hand, thinking, ‘Now what do I do?’” Part of his excitement resides in the fact that this year’s Pops will pay tribute to movie composer John Williams who wrote the score to a film that changed his life – “Jaws.” “That was a film that pushed me into the water,” he admitted. “It inspired me to be a marine scientist and concentrate on sharks…. The more scientists, marine scientists and underwater photographers I meet, the more I realize I’m not alone. There’s a great documentary that deals with how ‘Jaws’ changed the world and highlights people like me who were drawn to the ocean by that film.” When it comes to great whites, there may be no scientist more famous than Dr. Skomal, thanks in large part to his multiple appearances on the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. In the documentaries he has appeared in, there is an almost childlike enthusiasm to how he approaches his work. “Every day I’m on the water never gets old to me,” he said last month, when he and his crew had already tagged their third great white of the season. “Even
though I see the same sharks, I think to myself, ‘Wow, that is just an amazing animal. Just an absolutely amazing animal.’ There is a childhood fascination I have had with sharks that I don’t think I’ll ever shake.” Despite being a scientist, Dr. Skomal’s work often delves into the creative as a photographer, writer, and public speaker. For him, the intersection between science and art is much closer than you would think. “Science is important because it teaches us about ourselves and our planet,” he said. “I think art is equally important because it allows us to be creative, to educate, and to inspire. If I got up in front of an audience and my talk was purely scientific, I would lose people very quickly. But if I show them a dazzling video or a photo and get creative in my conversation, then I connect with them at an emotional level. That’s what art does – it taps into that emotional reservoir where you’re able to connect with people.”
“That’s what art does – it taps into that emotional reservoir where you’re able to connect with people.” —Dr. Gregory Skomal 10
Pops by the Sea 2017
