Cal Performances

12/22/2025

A new year, a new experience. 🎹🎉

There’s a specific kind of energy in the room just before a recital begins. You can hear it in the murmurs of the crowd as everyone settles in—it’s the sound of a community getting ready to share something special.

Our Executive Director Jeremy Geffen described a recital as an artist opening up their personal “diary” for the audience. It’s a small, intimate format designed to let you see the human behind the music.

If your New Year’s resolution is to try something new, come join us at Zellerbach Hall!

Start your New Year with a new tradition. View our full recital calendar at the link in our bio.

12/22/2025

New Year, New Traditions? ✨

Have you ever been to a recital? If your answer is "not yet," let 2026 be the year you change that.

People often think recitals are formal or "prescribed," but as our Executive Director Jeremy Geffen explains in this video, they are actually the most personal experiences we offer. Think of it as an artist opening up their "musical diary" just for you—it’s intimate, it’s high-stakes, and it’s incredibly moving.

Make a resolution to try something new this year. You might just find your new favorite way to spend an afternoon in Berkeley.

Check out our upcoming season calendar to find a recital that speaks to you: https://calperformances.org/2025-26-season/

12/19/2025

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is back!

Get ready for a week of breathtaking movement, April 7–12, 2026! We’re kicking things off on opening night with three incredible premieres by Medhi Walerski, Jamar Roberts, and Matthew Neenan—concluding with the timeless power of Revelations.

But the excitement doesn’t stop there! With distinct programs throughout the week, you can return again and again to see the full breadth of this company’s extraordinary range.

View the full program here: https://bit.ly/44hmQei

12/17/2025

Saturday plans: Secured. 🎄✨

is back in Berkeley for the holiday event of the season. Think iconic arrangements, matching fits, and 10/10 energy.

🗓️ Saturday, Dec 20 at 2pm and 8pm
📍 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Will we be seeing you there? 🔗 Grab your tickets at the link in bio.

12/16/2025

Samantha Hankey, mezzo-soprano makes her Cal Performances debut with an inviting program that combines Robert Schumann’s much-loved Dichterliebe song cycle with cabaret songs, lieder, and popular favorites sung in English, French, and German. Hankey made a big splash in the opera world when she appeared in a last-minute cast change as Octavian in the Metropolitan Opera’s Der Rosenkavalier in 2023, where The New York Times praised her “mighty yet smooth sound…tireless energy and dramatic skill.”

In demand internationally for her compelling stage presence and lustrous tone, Hankey opts for more intimate fare in recital, and here includes songs by Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, Charles Trenet, Francis Poulenc, and Erik Satie.

View the full program:

Mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey makes her Cal Performances debut with a program of Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe and more.

12/12/2025

Experience the unmatched power of the Soweto Gospel Choir. 💛 🎤 🎶

They are four-time Grammy-winning cultural ambassadors. Their voices carry the history of Soweto, South Africa. This is a sound rooted in hope and spiritual triumph.

Join us for their latest program, "Peace." They will sing gospel classics and inspiring pop songs. The performance is THIS SUNDAY, December 14! Don't miss this extraordinary, uplifting event.

12/11/2025

How do you find peace when your heritage is under attack?

For Marika Kuzma, a first-generation Ukrainian American and professor emerita of music at UC Berkeley, the answer lies in the ancient koliadky (carols) of Ukraine. In our latest blog post, she addresses the painful reality that many associate her homeland solely with conflict. Her upcoming concert is a direct response to that—a reminder that Ukrainians are a "peace-loving people" with a rich history that predates the current crisis.

Discover how she is using the arts to counter images of destruction with a message of enduring beauty.

Marika Kuzma of Ensemble Cherubim Chamber Chorus shares the history and tradition of Ukrainian holiday carolling.

12/09/2025

The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC), who performs with us this month, has been a powerful voice of change since its founding 45 years ago. Created by Jon Reed Sims who recruited members by way of flyering the city’s telephone poles, the group was organized with the simple goal of providing more music for the local Gay Freedom Day Parade. However, less than a month after their first practice, the chorus of already more than 100 singers was pulled toward a more serious subject.

November 27, 1978, the night of the group’s fifth ever rehearsal, marked the assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. Moved by the city’s sense of loss, over 100 members of the chorus followed the candlelight vigil march onto the steps of SF City Hall and, in an emotional moment, spontaneously began singing. Just like that, the choir made their first public appearance—one rooted not just in the idea of a celebration of identity, but committed to the true work of the community, of calling for justice and working for solidarity.

Experience them live on December 20, 2025: https://bit.ly/3YUktue

12/08/2025

What is a Ukrainian holiday celebration? 🔔🇺🇦

It captures the intimacy of music traditionally sung in Ukrainian homes, churches, and town squares during the holiday season.

Esteemed choral director Marika Kuzma, a first-generation Ukrainian American, returns to campus with her acclaimed Ensemble Cherubim this weekend to share this heritage. The stirring program of songs, hymns, and carols includes Mykola Leontovych’s renowned “Shchedryk” (“Carol of the Bells”) and musical treasures from ancient times to the present day.

Projections of the varied Ukrainian landscape will immerse you in the beauty of the country and the culture, lifting your spirits for the holidays and into the new year.

Join us THIS SATURDAY, December 13, for this celebration of culture and community: https://calperformances.org/events/2025-26/vocal-celebration/ensemble-cherubim-carols-of-birds-bells-and-peace-from-ukraine-a-holiday-celebration/

12/05/2025

We're excited for Joyce DiDonato and Time for Three coming to Zellerbach Hall on Feb 7, 2026. 🎶

They’ll perform Emily – No Prisoner Be, a powerful new song cycle inspired by Emily Dickinson and composed by Kevin Puts, a Cal Performances co-commission.

If you love bold, genre-blurring music with real emotional impact, this one’s for you.

✨ Tickets available now through Cal Performances here: https://bit.ly/3EJO9DE

12/02/2025

Just hours left to save.

Take 50% off select tickets before our Black Friday sale wraps tonight.

Find your performance, claim your seats, and turn it into a core memory: https://bit.ly/49uRweR

12/01/2025

In a season that moves quickly, art brings us back to what matters. ❤️🎼🎭

Black Friday is almost over — 50% tickets to 10 select events!

Ends tomorrow, Dec 2 at 11:59pm.