Cal Performances at Home is much more than a series of great streamed performances. Fascinating behind-the-scenes artist interviews. Informative and entertaining public forums. The Cal Performances Reading Room, featuring books with interesting connections to our Fall 2020 programs. For all this and much more, keep checking this page for frequent updates and to journey far, far Beyond the Stage!
Major support for Beyond the Stage is provided by Bank of America.
Beyond the Stage
Issue 51 (January 15)
In this issue: Georgs Pelēcis’ New Year’s Music performed by Timo Andres; Schumann’s “Aus alten Märchen winkt es” from Dichterliebe, Op. 48 performed by Suzanne Danco and Guido Agosti; Weill’s “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” performed by Anne Sofie von Otter and NDR-Sinfonieorchester Hamburg; Prokoviev’s Andante – Allegro from Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 performed by Martha Argerich and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Salif Keita’s “Tekere” performed by Salif Keita
Fighting the Disinformation Machine: Social Media and the Future of Journalism
Fighting the Disinformation Machine: Social Media and the Future of Journalism
An Illuminations “Fact or Fiction” Talk
Tristan Harris
“Fake news spreads six times faster than true news,” says Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, former Google Design Ethicist (2013–16), and star of the 2020 Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. And that’s what happens when citizens share emotionally resonant mis- or disinformation—often weaponized for profit or propaganda purposes—while tech algorithms amplify the viral spread. When Facebook and other social media companies allow the pollution of public information, fact-based, credible journalism is grievously weakened, and democracy is threatened.
With others, Harris founded the Center for Humane Technology to radically reimagine our digital infrastructure as one that promotes people’s well-being, democracy, and a shared-information environment.
Geeta Anand
Fighting the Disinformation Machine, an Illuminations: “Fact or Fiction” talk presented by Cal Performances on February 10, 2021 in partnership with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, featured Dean Geeta Anand and Harris in a conversation on the subject of “fact versus fiction,” in particular the growing movement to fight back against the perils posed to journalism by our current tech regime. An open Q&A session followed the discussion.
This event was presented as part of Cal Performances’ Illuminations: “Fact or Fiction” programming, which examines what happens when alteration of the truth—even the deliberate dissemination of disinformation—begins to affect our ability to tell fact from fiction, and how this challenge is impacting today’s world.
This talk was free and open to the public.
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Issue 50 (December 30)
In this issue: Paganini’s La campanella from Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 7 performed by Ivry Gitlis and Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra; E. Marsalis’ “Twelve’s It” performed by Ellis Marsalis Quartet; Beethoven’s Third movement from String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135 performed by Danish String Quartet; Gabriella Smith’s Maré performed by yMusic; Excerpt from Revelations performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and choreographed by Alvin Ailey; Monteverdi’s “Zefiro Torna” performed by L’Arpeggiata
Issue 49 (December 18)
In this issue: Bach’s “Flößt, mein Heiland” from Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248; Corelli’s Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8, Christmas Concerto performed by Freiburger Barokorchester; John Adams’ “The Christmas Star” from El Niño, directed by Peter Sellars; “Silent Night” performed by Mahalia Jackson; “Mele Kalikimaka” performed by SOL3 MIO
Changing the Narrative: What Stories Can We Tell Now?
Changing the Narrative: What Stories Can We Tell Now?
An Illuminations: “Fact or Fiction” Talk
Every previous major disaster in human history, from the Black Plague to the Great Depression, has elicited a re-imagination of the world, a reinvention of collective life through culture. The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception.
In “Changing the Narrative: What Stories Can We Tell Now?” UC Berkeley faculty members Anthony Cascardi and Catherine Gallagher discuss the ideas of Fact or Fiction in shaping humanity’s narrative about the current global pandemic, climate change, and the stories we tell about this moment in history.
Cascardi is dean of arts and humanities and the Sidney and Margaret Ancker Distinguished Professor of comparative literature, rhetoric, and Spanish at UC Berkeley. Gallagher is professor emerita of English; her 2018 book Telling It Like It Wasn’t: The Counterfactual Imagination in History and Fiction examines narratives of events that never occurred—such as the South winning the Civil War and JFK escaping assassination.
This talk was produced by the Townsend Center for the Humanities, as part of its series “(Re)making Sense: The Humanities and Pandemic Culture” and was in collaboration with Cal Performances’ Illuminations: “Fact or Fiction” programming, which examines what happens when alteration of the truth—even the deliberate dissemination of disinformation—begins to affect our ability to tell fact from fiction, and how this challenge is impacting today’s world.
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Issue 48 (December 11)
In this issue: “Waltz of the Snowflakes” from The Hard Nut in 360° choreographed by Mark Morris and performed by Mark Morris Dance Group; Debussy’s “The Snow is Dancing” (from Children’s Corner) and Rameau’s (arr. Ólafsson) “The Arts and the Hours” (from Les Boréades) performed by Víkingur Ólafsson; Beethoven’s Allegro Molto from String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3, Razumovsky performed by Dover Quartet; “When I Say” performed by Jazzmeia Horn; A Hanukkah Music Sampler featuring Olga Avigail & Tango Attack, Flory Jagoda, Adam Sandler, Daveed Diggs, and Tom Lehrer