Story Boldly’s Defining Courage
Friday, April 4, 2025, 8pm
Zellerbach Hall
The performance will be performed without intermission and last approximately 85 minutes.
The Defining Courage national tour is brought to you by Story Boldly, the Japanese American National Museum, and Outside In Theatre.
Lead support for this performance is provided by The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation.
This performance is made possible in part by an anonymous patron sponsor.
From the Executive and Artistic Director
As Cal Performances’ 2024–25 season nears its conclusion, it’s natural to look back at some of the highlights we’ve enjoyed since last September. We will all have our favorite moments—times when a performance seemed to leap off the stage and speak to us individually. But if such experiences can be deeply personal, they also rely on the communal act of gathering together and opening our hearts to the miracle of artistic expression. As this particular season winds down, I want to thank each of you for taking part in the magic of great—and live!—music, theater, and dance.
Over the coming weeks, our season’s Illuminations theme of “Fractured History” will continue to enrich our understanding of the past and explore how our notions of history affect our present and future. In April, we’ll see three such programs: Story Boldly’s Defining Courage, an immersive event—combining film, live music, and eyewitness interviews—commemorating the struggles and sacrifices of the Nisei soldiers of World War II (Apr 4, Zellerbach Hall [ZH]); the long-awaited Cal Performances debut of the renowned Brazilian dance troupe Grupo Corpo (Apr 25–26, ZH); and the UK’s brilliant early-music ensemble The English Concert in a concert presentation of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, a stirring tale of love, betrayal, family drama, and political intrigue under the assured direction of Harry Bicket and featuring dazzling British soprano Louise Alder as Cleopatra and French countertenor Christophe Dumaux as her Caesar (Apr 27, ZH; see page 23 for more information).
Once again, springtime brings the return of the beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Apr 8–13, ZH). With its UC Berkeley relationship now in its 57th year (Ailey has visited campus every non-pandemic year since 1968), the company will present four separate programs featuring Bay Area premieres of four new works—Jamar Roberts’ Al-Andalus Blues, Matthew Rushing’s Sacred Songs, Hope Boykin’s Finding Free, and Lar Lubovitch’s Many Angels—that recently received their world premieres at New York’s City Center, as well as new productions of Ronald K. Brown’s Grace (1999) and Elisa Monte’s Treading (1979). The company’s current season celebrates the life and legacy of Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison, who passed away last November, and Cal Performances dedicates this year’s Ailey Week and AileyCamp to her legacy as well.
And I must also mention of the upcoming visit by our great friends at the Mark Morris Dance Group (Apr 19–21), returning to their West Coast home-away-from-home with encore performances of the Cal Performance co-commissioned Pepperland (May 9–11, ZH), the smash hit of our 2018–19 season. You won’t want to miss this crowd-pleasing romp through the Beatles’ beloved and groundbreaking concept album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
This season comes to a close a little later than usual, on June 21, when composer, vocalist, and banjo virtuoso Rhiannon Giddens and the Old-Time Revue arrive at Zellerbach Hall. Until then, we still have much to look forward to: concerts with the commanding Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes (Apr 1, ZH); Broadway superstar Patti LuPone with her Songs from a Hat program featuring pianist Joseph Thalken (Apr 5, ZH); Owls, a fresh and original new string quartet collective comprised of violinist Alexi Kenney, violist Ayane Kozasa, and cellists Gabriel Cabezas and Paul Wiancko (Apr 13, Hertz Hall); and a special 500th-birthday celebration of Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s music with Berkeley favorites The Tallis Scholars (May 2, First Congregational Church).
Finally, I hope you’ll join us on April 15, when we announce our 2025–26 season, featuring more than 80 extraordinary performances. We can’t wait to share the details! (And, if you’re reading this after April 15, we hope you have taken a moment to review all the exciting events coming up, beginning this summer! See the website for details.
Thank you for joining us this season. I look forward to seeing you again in the fall.
Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances
As Cal Performances’ 2024–25 season nears its conclusion, it’s natural to look back at some of the highlights we’ve enjoyed since last September. We will all have our favorite moments—times when a performance seemed to leap off the stage and speak to us individually. But if such experiences can be deeply personal, they also rely on the communal act of gathering together and opening our hearts to the miracle of artistic expression. As this particular season winds down, I want to thank each of you for taking part in the magic of great—and live!—music, theater, and dance.
Over the coming weeks, our season’s Illuminations theme of “Fractured History” will continue to enrich our understanding of the past and explore how our notions of history affect our present and future. In April, we’ll see three such programs: Story Boldly’s Defining Courage, an immersive event—combining film, live music, and eyewitness interviews—commemorating the struggles and sacrifices of the Nisei soldiers of World War II (Apr 4, Zellerbach Hall [ZH]); the long-awaited Cal Performances debut of the renowned Brazilian dance troupe Grupo Corpo (Apr 25–26, ZH); and the UK’s brilliant early-music ensemble The English Concert in a concert presentation of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, a stirring tale of love, betrayal, family drama, and political intrigue under the assured direction of Harry Bicket and featuring dazzling British soprano Louise Alder as Cleopatra and French countertenor Christophe Dumaux as her Caesar (Apr 27, ZH; see page 23 for more information).
Once again, springtime brings the return of the beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Apr 8–13, ZH). With its UC Berkeley relationship now in its 57th year (Ailey has visited campus every non-pandemic year since 1968), the company will present four separate programs featuring Bay Area premieres of four new works—Jamar Roberts’ Al-Andalus Blues, Matthew Rushing’s Sacred Songs, Hope Boykin’s Finding Free, and Lar Lubovitch’s Many Angels—that recently received their world premieres at New York’s City Center, as well as new productions of Ronald K. Brown’s Grace (1999) and Elisa Monte’s Treading (1979). The company’s current season celebrates the life and legacy of Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison, who passed away last November, and Cal Performances dedicates this year’s Ailey Week and AileyCamp to her legacy as well.
And I must also mention of the upcoming visit by our great friends at the Mark Morris Dance Group (Apr 19–21), returning to their West Coast home-away-from-home with encore performances of the Cal Performance co-commissioned Pepperland (May 9–11, ZH), the smash hit of our 2018–19 season. You won’t want to miss this crowd-pleasing romp through the Beatles’ beloved and groundbreaking concept album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
This season comes to a close a little later than usual, on June 21, when composer, vocalist, and banjo virtuoso Rhiannon Giddens and the Old-Time Revue arrive at Zellerbach Hall. Until then, we still have much to look forward to: concerts with the commanding Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes (Apr 1, ZH); Broadway superstar Patti LuPone with her Songs from a Hat program featuring pianist Joseph Thalken (Apr 5, ZH); Owls, a fresh and original new string quartet collective comprised of violinist Alexi Kenney, violist Ayane Kozasa, and cellists Gabriel Cabezas and Paul Wiancko (Apr 13, Hertz Hall); and a special 500th-birthday celebration of Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s music with Berkeley favorites The Tallis Scholars (May 2, First Congregational Church).
Finally, I hope you’ll join us on April 15, when we announce our 2025–26 season, featuring more than 80 extraordinary performances. We can’t wait to share the details! (And, if you’re reading this after April 15, we hope you have taken a moment to review all the exciting events coming up, beginning this summer! See the website for details.
Thank you for joining us this season. I look forward to seeing you again in the fall.
Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances
About the Performance
For more than 25 years, I have been collecting and telling the remarkable stories of the Nisei soldiers. Storytelling is fundamental to our culture, but experiencing a story through stunning visuals, interviews, historic footage, and original music is another thing entirely. To do so in the presence of those who lived it and the descendents of those who endured is a rare treat.
This evening, we invite you to open your minds and hearts and join us on a journey into the legacy of the Nisei soldier, Americans of Japanese ancestry who served in the segregated military units of the 100th IB, 442nd RCT, MIS, and 522nd FAB. Considered the greatest fighting units in American military history, most people have never heard their extraordinary stories.
This special engagement brings together the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus along with the RAISE Choir curated by Music Director Chris Wade. The program features newly written music along with special guest performances by six-time Grammy Award winner Daniel Ho and multi-platinum songwriter Harold Payne, as well as the music performed by the renowned Trio Barclay.
Our goal isn’t just to teach… but also to transport our audience back in time, to incredible locations around the world—places both beautiful and frightening—as we bring these brave young Americans back to life. You will feel them, their strength, courage, and tenacity; but you will also experience their inner conflict as they fought and died for a country that treated them so unfairly.
Let us immerse you into the tragic, yet uplifting, world of these heroes who fought prejudice at home and the enemy abroad. Let their story inspire your own courage as you navigate our modern world with its many challenges.
David Ono,
News Anchor at ABC-7 Los Angeles