Cal Performances’ Illuminations—a series of performances, lectures, and conversations—connects extraordinary artistry with groundbreaking scholarship to explore pressing topics of today.
This season’s Illuminations theme explores “Innocence & Experience” as intertwined forces that transform one another and influence our understanding of the world. Innocence is frequently thought of as a kind of purity or a blank canvas—something to be celebrated or protected, yet vulnerable to disruption. Experience, meanwhile, reflects knowledge—coupled often with intransigence—gained from navigating the complexities of love and loss, of care and conflict.
Join us for poignant and transformative stories—youthful idealism facing power, beauty shadowed by vulnerability, bodies carrying the weight of history—and walk away with a deeper understanding of the forces shaping our humanity.
2026–27 Season Illuminations Performances
The Australian Ballet
Oscar© by Christopher Wheeldon
William Kentridge’s
The Head & the Load
Jason Moran and the Harlem Hellfighters
James Reese Europe and the Absence of Ruin
Ambrose Akinmusire & Aszure Barton
A a | a B : B E N D
Compagnie Hervé Koubi
Sol Invictus
Maria Manetti Shrem Great Artist Performance
Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
Il Pomo d’Oro Orchestra and Choir
2026–27 Season Illuminations Related Events
Illuminations programming includes lectures and conversations that bring together leading artists and thinkers, including UC Berkeley faculty, to lend their unique perspectives to the theme. Events surrounding the performances will be added throughout the season.
The Australian Ballet: Oscar© by Christopher Wheeldon
Illuminations Pre-performance Conversation
Sat, Sep 26 at 6pm
Zellerbach Playhouse
Free and open to ticket holders of the Sep 26, 7:30pm performance
Prior to the Saturday, September 26 performance of Oscar, members of the cast as well as The Australian Ballet’s artistic leadership will join Grace Lavery, UC Berkeley professor of English, critical theory, and gender & women’s studies, for a conversation about the creative and historical context of the work, as well as its relationship to Cal Performances’ 2026–27 Illuminations theme, “Innocence & Experience.”
William Kentridge’s The Head & the Load
Illuminations Pre-performance Conversation with William Kentirdge
Fri, Nov 13 from 6–7pm
Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, Oakland
Free and open to Ticket holders
Prior to the Fri, Nov 13 performance of The Head & the Load, William Kentridge, creator and director, will take the stage for an enriching conversation with Debarati Sanyal, director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry. Over the course of the hour, the two will explore the creative and historical context of the work, as well as its relationship to Cal Performances’ 2026–27 Illuminations theme, “Innocence & Experience.”