Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour; Celebrating 65 Years

This performance will last approximately 90 minutes and be performed without an intermission.

This performance is made possible, in part, by Joe W. Laymon, Kiese Laymon, Jeanne Laymon, and Thomas Laymon.

The new year gets off to a brilliant start this month with five performances featuring a host of popular returning artists. The renowned Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour celebrates 65 years of scintillating jazz-making when this year’s super-group hits Zellerbach Hall on January 18. Then, our focus shifts to classical music as we welcome the brilliant mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and her partners Il Pomo d’Oro and conductor/violinist Zefira Valova with EDEN, their new program exploring the majesty, might, and mystery of the natural world. (By the way, the artists’ superb recording of this concert has been nominated for a Grammy Award this year.) The brilliant pianist Joyce Yang serves up a feast of music by composers including Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky, followed by a true season highlight, a special evening with chamber music superstars pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Finally, the wonderful Takács Quartet returns for its second Cal Performances program this season, featuring music by Britten, Bartók, and Dvořák.

And that’s just the start of what we have planned for 2023. From now until May, when we close our season with the Bay Area premiere of Octavia E. Butler’s powerful and prescient opera Parable of the Sower and a long-awaited recital with international dramatic soprano sensation Nina Stemme—we have a calendar packed with the very best in the live performing arts.

And what a schedule! Dozens of remarkable events, including the return of the legendary Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Christian Thielemann (in his Bay Area debut); the beloved Mark Morris Dance Group in Morris’ new The Look of Love: An Evening of Dance to the Music of Burt Bacharach; and the US premiere of revered South African artist William Kentridge’s astonishing new SIBYL (part of an exciting campus-wide residency with this singular artist).

Upcoming Illuminations programming will continue to take advantage of Cal Performances’ unique positioning as a vital part of the world’s top-ranked public university. Over the coming months, we’ll be engaging communities on and off campus to examine the evolution of tools such as musical instruments and electronics, the complex relationships between the creators and users of technology, the possibilities enabled by technology’s impact on the creative process, and questions raised by the growing role of artificial intelligence in our society.

This concept of “Human and Machine” has never been so pertinent to so many. Particularly over the course of the pandemic, the rapid expansion of technology’s role in improving communication and in helping us emotionally process unforeseen and, at times, extraordinarily difficult events has made a permanent mark on our human history. Throughout time, our reliance on technology to communicate has—for better and worse—influenced how we understand others as well as ourselves. During this Illuminations season, we will investigate how technology has contributed to our capacity for self-expression, as well as the potential dangers it may pose.

Some programs this season will bring joy and delight, and others will inspire reflection and stir debate. We are committed to presenting this wide range of artistic expression on our stages because of our faith in the performing arts’ power to promote empathy. And it is because of our audiences’ openness and curiosity that we have the privilege of bringing such thought-provoking, adventurous performances to our campus. The Cal Performances community wants the arts to engage in important conversations, and to bring us all together as we see and feel the world through the experiences of others.

Please make sure to check out our brochures and our website for complete information about upcoming events. We can’t wait to share all the details with you, in print and online.

Happy New Year from Cal Performances!

Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances

The new year gets off to a brilliant start this month with five performances featuring a host of popular returning artists. The renowned Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour celebrates 65 years of scintillating jazz-making when this year’s super-group hits Zellerbach Hall on January 18. Then, our focus shifts to classical music as we welcome the brilliant mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and her partners Il Pomo d’Oro and conductor/violinist Zefira Valova with EDEN, their new program exploring the majesty, might, and mystery of the natural world. (By the way, the artists’ superb recording of this concert has been nominated for a Grammy Award this year.) The brilliant pianist Joyce Yang serves up a feast of music by composers including Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky, followed by a true season highlight, a special evening with chamber music superstars pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Finally, the wonderful Takács Quartet returns for its second Cal Performances program this season, featuring music by Britten, Bartók, and Dvořák.

And that’s just the start of what we have planned for 2023. From now until May, when we close our season with the Bay Area premiere of Octavia E. Butler’s powerful and prescient opera Parable of the Sower and a long-awaited recital with international dramatic soprano sensation Nina Stemme—we have a calendar packed with the very best in the live performing arts.

And what a schedule! Dozens of remarkable events, including the return of the legendary Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Christian Thielemann (in his Bay Area debut); the beloved Mark Morris Dance Group in Morris’ new The Look of Love: An Evening of Dance to the Music of Burt Bacharach; and the US premiere of revered South African artist William Kentridge’s astonishing new SIBYL (part of an exciting campus-wide residency with this singular artist).

Upcoming Illuminations programming will continue to take advantage of Cal Performances’ unique positioning as a vital part of the world’s top-ranked public university. Over the coming months, we’ll be engaging communities on and off campus to examine the evolution of tools such as musical instruments and electronics, the complex relationships between the creators and users of technology, the possibilities enabled by technology’s impact on the creative process, and questions raised by the growing role of artificial intelligence in our society.

This concept of “Human and Machine” has never been so pertinent to so many. Particularly over the course of the pandemic, the rapid expansion of technology’s role in improving communication and in helping us emotionally process unforeseen and, at times, extraordinarily difficult events has made a permanent mark on our human history. Throughout time, our reliance on technology to communicate has—for better and worse—influenced how we understand others as well as ourselves. During this Illuminations season, we will investigate how technology has contributed to our capacity for self-expression, as well as the potential dangers it may pose.

Some programs this season will bring joy and delight, and others will inspire reflection and stir debate. We are committed to presenting this wide range of artistic expression on our stages because of our faith in the performing arts’ power to promote empathy. And it is because of our audiences’ openness and curiosity that we have the privilege of bringing such thought-provoking, adventurous performances to our campus. The Cal Performances community wants the arts to engage in important conversations, and to bring us all together as we see and feel the world through the experiences of others.

Please make sure to check out our brochures and our website for complete information about upcoming events. We can’t wait to share all the details with you, in print and online.

Happy New Year from Cal Performances!

Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances