Soweto Gospel Choir
Peace
Sunday, December 14, 2025, 3pm
Zellerbach Hall
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About the Performance
“God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.
(1964 Berlin Jazz Festival)
“…the political use of music in South Africa changed from being a ‘mirror’ in the 1940s and 1950s to becoming a ‘hammer’ with which to shape reality in the 1980s. In South Africa, music went from reflecting common experiences and concerns in the early years of apartheid, to eventually function as a force to confront the State and as a means to actively construct an alternative political and social reality.”
—Anne Schumann
The Beat that Beat Apartheid:
The Role of Music in the Resistance
Against Apartheid in South Africa.
(2008 Vienna Journal of African Studies)
This concert by the three-time Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir celebrates songs and anthems of Nelson Mandela’s Freedom Movement in South Africa and the Civil Rights Movement of Dr. Martin Luther King’s America. Opening with a rousing program of South African freedom songs, the repertoire moves down through time to the United States, with beautiful renditions of the protest music of the Civil Rights Movement and more contemporary classics, including works by legendary artists like Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Cynthia Erivo, Stevie Wonder, and the one-and-only Aretha Franklin. Formed to celebrate the unique and inspirational power of African Gospel music, the Soweto Gospel Choir is dedicated to sharing the joy of faith through music with audiences around the world and has received critical acclaim and audience adoration for its powerful renditions of African American spirituals, gospel, and folk music.
About the Artists
Happy Holidays! I’m so pleased that you’ve chosen to spend part of the season here with us at Cal Performances, especially during these weeks when schedules so quickly fill up with other special events and activities that bring together a host of family, friends, and colleagues. We enjoy seeing you in our halls at any time of the year, but particularly during the busy days of December.
This month’s programming places a spotlight on choral music, with three brilliant vocal ensembles offering programs perfectly attuned to this special season. On Saturday afternoon, December 13, esteemed choral director Marika Kuzma, a first-generation Ukrainian American and professor emerita of music at UC Berkeley, returns to campus with her acclaimed Ensemble Cherubim, joined by a selection of renowned Bay Area artists who share an admiration of Ukrainian culture. Their stirring program of songs, hymns, carols, and spoken word captures the intimacy of music traditionally sung in Ukrainian homes, churches, and town squares during the holiday season.
Next up, on Sunday afternoon, December 14, the multi-Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir returns to UC Berkeley, singing songs of love and peace, from gospel classics and spirituals to feel-good pop songs, all delivered with these singers’ superhuman vocal blend and dazzling showmanship.
And rounding out our December programing, on Saturday, December 20, the much-adored San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus returns for its annual—and wildly popular—Holiday Spectacular program at Zellerbach Hall. The hilarious and heartwarming concert features the chorus in clever sendups of pop culture and national personalities, with chart-topping music hits mixed in with classic holiday carols. Due to overwhelming demand, a second performance has been added this season.
Coming up in the new year, our 2025–26 season will continue with a wide range of talent including conductor Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (a Maria Manetti Shrem Great Artist Performance); vocalists Joyce DiDonato and Renée Fleming; the Takács String Quartet; early-music superstars The English Concert, Jordi Savall, and The Tallis Scholars; jazz greats Cécile McLorin Salvant and Somi; and appearances by Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens and Broadway diva Kelli O’Hara.
And our acclaimed dance series continues, distinguished by genre-defining artists and major new productions including the Martha Graham Dance Company marking the occasion of its centennial; The Joffrey Ballet in an otherworldly celebration of the traditional Scandinavian summer solstice festival; the long-awaited Cal Performances debut of A.I.M by Kyle Abraham; and, of course, return engagements with the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
As you explore the calendar, I recommend you pay particular attention to our Illuminations theme of “Exile & Sanctuary,” focusing this season on how issues of displacement can inform bold new explorations of identity and community; and how artistic expression can offer safe harbor during times of unrest or upheaval.
The opportunity to engage with diverse artistic perspectives and share the transformative power of the live performing arts is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and I look forward to encountering these profound and entertaining experiences with you in the months ahead.
Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances