2025–26 Season
Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary”
Illuminations connects groundbreaking UC Berkeley scholarship to themes taken up by the world-class music, dance, and theater presented by Cal Performances. Illuminations programming, which includes performances, panel discussions, lecture demonstrations, Q&As, and more, sheds light on pressing topics with the power to transform our understanding of the world and shape the future.
Exile is more than physical displacement—it is a rupture of identity, a stripping away of the familiar, leaving an individual or community without a sense of belonging. Sanctuary, in turn, can be both a refuge and a creative space where new connections are forged. This season’s Illuminations theme, “Exile & Sanctuary,” invites us to explore how people who have experienced exile have found comfort in building new identities and narratives, and how the arts can give voice to these important stories.
Through performances and public programs, our Illuminations events will consider how exile reshapes culture, how sanctuary helps imagine new communities, and how artistic expression offers a vital space for resistance, healing, and reinvention.
Lead support for Illuminations is provided by the Koret Foundation.
Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary” Beyond the Stage
2025–26 Season Illuminations Performances
Beginning Apr 22 at noon, save 25% with an Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary” Subscription
Sarabande Africaine
Angélique Kidjo and Yo-Yo Ma
at the Greek Theatre
Kronos Quartet
Beyond the Golden Gate
Manual Cinema
The 4th Witch
Inspired by Macbeth
A Cal Performances Co-commission
Bay Area Premiere
Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band
Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens
Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual
Jordi Savall
Hespèrion XXI
La Capella Reial de Catalunya
Tembembe Ensamble Continuo
Un Mar de Músicas (A Sea of Music)
Lara Downes and Friends
This Land: Reflections on America
2025–26 Season Illuminations Related Events
Kronos Quartet
Beyond the Golden Gate
Pre-performance Panel
Sat, Oct 11, 6:30–7:30pm
Zellerbach Hall
Free and open to performance ticket holders
In this pre-performance panel, UC Berkeley faculty and community leaders will discuss the context and history behind Beyond the Golden Gate, as well as its relation to their own work and Cal Performances’ Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary” theme. This conversation is moderated by SanSan Kwan, professor and department chair for Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, whose research interests and published work span dance and performance studies, as well as Asian American studies. Panelists include Andrew Leong, assistant professor of English at UC Berkeley; Edward Tepporn, Executive Director of Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation; and Leti Volpp, UC Berkeley’s Robert D. and Leslie Kay Raven Professor of Law in Access to Justice.
