Press Room: Institutional
Best of the Bay 2024: “Cal Performances is a pillar of the Bay Area scene, and it still continues to astonish with a variety of programming whose diversity is hard to match.” Lou Fancher, 48 Hills
“…where else but at Cal Performances can we experience a queer rock opera on one night, and a dance performed by over 30 dancers from 14 different African countries on another evening?” Samantha Campos, East Bay Magazine
“The forward-looking UC Berkeley organization also goes way back [to] April 18, 1906…Over the next century, Cal Performances grew to become the largest multidisciplinary performing arts presenter in Northern California, and one of the largest university-based arts presenters in the United States.”
San Francisco Classical Voice
“The audiences in [Zellerbach] auditorium are electric. They are ready to party! Everyone goes in with an open mind. Whatever fierceness you want to serve them, whatever synapses are being fired from that stage, it’s all accepted by the audience unconditionally. They love you for exactly who you are. It’s one of the best feelings an artist can have.” Joshua Thake, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Bay Area Reporter
“One of the most vibrant performing arts organizations on the West Coast.” New York Times
“In any Cal Performances’ dance season, there is much to luxuriate in. New chapters in decades old artistic collaborations; a wide swath of choreographic genres and styles; and a curiosity for newness.” Critical Dance
“Cal Performances continues to astound.” East Bay Express
“… there’s really no overstating how central this organization has been to the cultural life of the Bay Area, or how much joy and enlightenment it has given us over the years.” San Francisco Chronicle
“[Cal Performances is] the most adventurous high-quality performing arts organization in the country” Wall Street Journal
“Some of my best memories of the past 30 years are from Berkeley” Mikhail Baryshnikov, San Francisco Chronicle
Learn More
Multimedia
What drew executive and artistic director Jeremy Geffen to Berkeley?
Cal Performances’ executive and artistic director Jeremy Geffen’s reflects on his work as a performing arts administrator.
Cal Performances at 100 (2006)
Venues
Zellerbach Hall
Zellerbach Playhouse
Hertz Hall
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre
Commissions
William Kentridge / The Great Yes, The Great No (March 2025)
Gabriella Smith / New Work (March 2025)
Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate / Woodland Songs (November 2024)
Edgar Meyer / New Work (October 2024)
Thomas Adés / Wreath—for Franz Schubert, for string quintet (April 2024)
Peni Candra Rini / Segara Gunung (March 2024)
Brad Mehldau /Fourteen Reveries (February 2024)
Nokuthula Ngwenyama / flow (November 2023)
Los Angeles Master Chorale /Music to Accompany a Departure (October 2023)
Anna Thorvaldsdottir / Rituals (April 2023)
Joyce DiDonato / Eden (January 2023)
Steve Reich / Traveler’s Prayer (November 2022)
David Lang / “the truths we know” from sun-centered (May 2022)
Lotta Wennäkoski / Pige (April 2022)
Angélique Kidjo / Yemandja (April 2022)
Andrew Norman / Difference (April 2022)
Samuel Adams / Current (February 2022)
Wayne Shorter and esperanza spalding / …(Iphigenia) (February 2022)
Manual Cinema / Frankenstein (October 2021)
Bent Sørensen / Doppelgänger (October 2021)
Silkroad Ensemble / Heroes Take Their Stands (May 2019)
Rennie Harris / Lazarus (April 2019)
Akram Khan / XENOS (March 2019)
Jimmy Lopez / Dreamers (March 2019)
Harrison Birstwhistle / Keyboard Engine (November 2018)
Mark Morris / Pepperland (September 2018)
Michael Hersch / I hope we get a chance to visit soon (June 2018)
Alexander Ekman / Joy (November 2017)
Michele Dorrance / Myelination (October 2017)
Pascal Dusapin / Slackline (October 2017)
John Adams, Lucinda Childs, and Frank O. Gehry / Available Light (revival) (February 2017)
Steve Reich / Runner (January 2017)
Robert Wilson, Mikhail Baryshnikov / Letter to a Man (October 2016)
Mark Morris/ Layla and Majnun (September 2016)
Deborah O’Grady / Des canyons aux étoiles (visuals) (February 2016)
Robert Battle / Awakening (March 2015)
Kronos Quartet / Fifty for the Future Legacy Partner (2015)
Benjamin Britten / Curlew River – A Parable for Church Performance (November 2014)
John Harbison /For Violin Alone (March 2015)
Handspring Puppet Company / Ubu and the Truth Commission (May 2015) Jeremy Denk and Steven Stucky/The Classical Style: An Opera (of Sorts) (June 2014)
Mark Morris / Acis and Galatea (April 2014)
Kronos Quartet / Combat Paper Project (April 2014)
Yo-Yo Ma and Emmanuel Ax / Brahms and Beyond (February 2014)
Anne Sofie von Otter and Emmanuel Ax/ (January 2014)
Berkeley Symphony/Ossicles (January 2014)
Harrison Birtwistle/Gigue Machine (January 2013)
Philip Glass/Einstein on the Beach (October 2012)
Peter Sellars/Desdemona (October 2011)
Mark Grey/Fire Angels (April 2011)
Merce Cunningham/The Legacy Tour: Pond Way (March 2011)
Laurie Anderson/Two-Sided Plays (May 2010)
Vladimir Martynov/Schubert-Quintet (Unfinished) (December 2009)
Ex Machina/Robert Lepage’s The Blue Dragon (June 2009)
Aviya Kopelman/Widows and Lovers (February 2009)
Laurie Anderson/Homeland (October 2008)
Mark Morris/Romeo & Juliet (September 2008)
Leadership
Jeremy N. Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director
PHOTO 1
Pictured: Jeremy Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director
(credit: Tiffany Valvo)
Watch videos about what drew Jeremy Geffen to Berkeley and his thoughts on being an arts administrator.
Read about Jeremy Geffen’s Road to Berkeley in this interview originally published in Cal Performances’ program book.
Katy Tucker, Director of Artistic Planning
PHOTO 2
Pictured: Katy Tucker, Director of Artistic Planning
(credit: Tiffany Valvo)
