How do songs help us survive history’s darkest times? Why do joyful melodies so often mask painful truths? In this fascinating episode of History for F***’s Sake host Sarah Dowd is joined by Canadian conductor, music director, and cultural leader Robin Thomas for a deep dive into the musical, historical, and emotional legacy of The Sound of Music.

Sarah and Robin trace the journey of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic from Salzburg to Kamloops, exploring why its story of singing nuns, resistance, tyranny, and migration has captivated audiences and helped shape collective memory for generations. Along the way, they reflect on immigrant stories, music as healing and protest, and the power of art to make sense of trauma, displacement, and changing cultural identity. Whether you’re a casual fan humming along or a die-hard who’s done the Salzburg tour, this episode will change the way you experience the von Trapps forever.

Highlights:

• Robin shares his family’s migration story and how The Sound of Music became a personal soundtrack to survival
• Discover why songs stay with us through trauma, immigration, and upheaval, and how musicals like Come From Away and Fiddler on the Roof carry national identity and collective grief
• Why The Sound of Music is more than just singing nuns and pretty mountains and how its story still has relevance
• Robin breaks down the emotional truths that music can convey, even when historic “accuracy” falls short.
• Sarah and Robin debate solitude, togetherness, and what it means to “go deep”
• Why culture, heritage, and the arts are essential and how they form a circle of meaning
• Salzburg bus tours, childhood Walkmans, musical theatre memories, and the permission to embrace being a history and music “nerd.”

About Robin Thomas:

Robin Thomas is an orchestral conductor, musician, and international fundraising professional with over 20 years’ experience in cultural capital campaigns. He has helped organisations across the globe raise hundreds of millions of pounds for transformative heritage, cultural, healthcare, education, and faith projects. Robin has held senior executive and consultancy roles in North America, the UK, and beyond, and was among the first UK professionals to achieve the Certified Fund Raising Executive credential. He has also served on the Board of the Association of Fundraising Consultants.

Connect with Robin:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011015072653

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-thomas-cfre-frsa-1a58b121/

About Sarah Dowd:

I’m Sarah Dowd - writer, speaker, heritage and arts consultant, producer, and all-around nerd - here to share the stories of our past that make us laugh, gasp, and mutter: It’s History… For F***k’s Sake.

For 25+ years I’ve created immersive, inclusive experiences that bring history alive, from rallying Second World War convoys through London to staging performances between Pearly Kings and Gen Z creatives. My work spans museums, cathedral crypts, pop-up theatres, global brands, and community projects across the UK and beyond.

As a Canadian living between the UK and France (with a late ADHD diagnosis that fuels my curiosity and creativity), I zigzag through culture, history, and big ideas, but never boring ones.

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