Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens
Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual
Thursday, March 19, 2026, 7:30pm
Friday, March 20, 2026, 8pm
Zellerbach Hall
The performance will last approximately 80 minutes and be performed without intermission.
Leadership support for this performance is provided by Nadine Tang.
Cal Performances is committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive, and safe environment for all one that honors our venues as places of respite, openness, and respect. Please see the Community Agreements section on our Policies page for more information.
Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual explores humanity’s enduring impulse to turn to music in moments of upheaval, grief, and transformation. Across cultures and throughout history, communal sound-making has served as a refuge and a way to process loss, forge connection, and restore balance in times of uncertainty. In Sanctuary, Silkroad invites audiences into this shared space, examining how ritual, trance, and resonance function not only as musical practices, but as deeply human responses to the challenges of living together in an unsettled world.
Drawing from a vast range of global traditions, including Southern Italian tarantella, Moroccan Gnawa, Indian classical music, Japanese farmers’ song, and American folk practices, the program highlights music’s ability to create presence, grounding, and collective meaning. Rather than presenting these traditions in isolation, Sanctuary weaves them into an ongoing dialogue, revealing unexpected connections across geography and history. The result is an evocative experience in which listeners are invited to participate as witnesses and partners in the act of listening itself.
At the heart of Sanctuary is a deeply collaborative creative process rooted in improvisation and shared musical storytelling. Each artist brings their own cultural lineage and lived musical language into the room, an offering that is both a personal expression and a communal invitation.
Through attentive listening and trust, the members of the ensemble allow one another to “sit” within these traditions, learning, responding, and building new music together in real time, while honoring the integrity of each voice.
This program also marks the Silkroad debuts of guest artists Mehdi Nassouli and Mauro Durante, whose musical lineages bring powerful expressions of trance and communal rhythm into conversation with the core ensemble. Through spontaneous collaboration, layered grooves, and moments of quiet reflection, the musicians explore how repetition, pulse, and resonance can open pathways to healing and shared understanding.
At once intimate and expansive, Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual is not a retreat from the world in a time of unrest, but a response to it, offering music as a space of refuge, renewal, and connection. In a time when division and dissonance often dominate, Silkroad reminds us of music’s capacity to hold complexity, honor and tradition, and to create moments of collective stillness and joy.
Cal Performances’ extraordinary 2025–26 season moves into the busy month of March with a schedule of offerings sure to appeal to a wide range of people and interests.
Acclaimed classical and early-music artists include the brilliant The English Concert and an impressive slate of guest vocalists under the direction of conductor Harry Bicket, performing a concert version of Handel’s 1744 vocal showcase Hercules (Mar 8, Zellerbach Hall [ZH]); the ever-adventurous JACK Quartet making its Cal Performances debut in an ambitious program of contemporary music (Mar 15, Hertz Hall [HH]); and highly anticipated chamber music concerts with violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte and harpsichordist Justin Taylor (Mar 22, HH), and longtime friends of Cal Performances, cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han (Mar 29, HH).
We’ll also enjoy rousing jazz from the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (Mar 6, Zellerbach Playhouse [ZP]); ace guitarist Marc Ribot performing his score to special screening of Charlie Chaplin’s silent-film masterpiece The Kid (Mar 7, ZP); a brilliant production of La Belle et la Bête from Opera Parallèle that marries Philip Glass’ remarkable score with the classic 1946 Jean Cocteau film, under the direction of Nicole Paiement and Brian Staufenbiel (Mar 13–14, ZH); the phenomenally popular Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens (Mar 19–20, ZH); and masters of thunderous spectacle and jaw-dropping athleticism, the astounding drummers of Drum Tao (Mar 21–22, ZH).
Before the season draws to a close in May, we’ll continue to welcome a full spectrum of talent including Cal Performances’ 2025–26 Artist in Residence Víkingur Ólafsson; legendary soprano Renée Fleming; French piano virtuoso Alexandre Kantorow in his long-awaited Bay Area recital debut; early-music superstars Jordi Savall and The Tallis Scholars; and celebrated pianist, NPR host, and California native Lara Downes with an all-star cast of collaborators that includes the great Judy Collins. And our acclaimed dance series will conclude, distinguished by genre-defining artists and major new productions like the beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in its annual Zellerbach Hall visit and The Joffrey Ballet in a bold new work set during Midsommar, the traditional Scandinavian summer solstice festival.
As you explore the calendar, I especially recommend the Illuminations “Exile & Sanctuary” events that inform the Julia Keefe, Jordi Savall, and Silkroad Ensemble/Rhiannon Giddens concerts, which focus on how issues of displacement can inform explorations of identity and community, and how artistic expression can offer safe harbor during times of unrest or upheaval.
Finally, I hope you’ll join us in late April, when we announce our thrilling 2026–27 season. One major detail has already been revealed—the Maria Manetti Shrem and Elizabeth Segerstrom California Orchestra Residency, when Cal Performances and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County will welcome the return of the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and a truly impressive list of guest artists during spring 2027. And I can promise you many more welcome and exciting surprises when full season details are announced.
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