Season announcements are often studded with breathless superlatives, facts not always jibing with the hype. But the 2017–2018 Cal Performances program, compels the use of superlatives: Not only does it offer a wealth of big-name attractions, but it includes unusual, rare, and important programs.
The man most responsible for programming, Cal Performances Director Matías Tarnopolsky, says:
Borders, barriers, boxes — what separates us — are a constant subject today, a preoccupation in our society and in our daily lives. Music, dance, and theater cannot provide the answers to all things, but the arts do offer a vital catalyst for launching thoughtful conversation and consideration, and even for creating solutions.
Cal Performances’ 2017–2018 season, especially our third year of Berkeley RADICAL programming, is about transcending boundaries. Three groups of programs — Joining Generations, Blurring Boundaries, Vaulting Walls — bridge disciplinary lines, each accompanied by a wealth of related participatory opportunities that seek to create engagement.
The parade of stars is more conventional, not what Tarnopolsky is emphasizing, but let’s start with that anyway because it’s such an impressive list (where no location is given, the event is in Zellerbach Hall):
- Gustavo Dudamel conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, Sept. 21, Greek Theater
- Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony on Oct. 13 (Rossini, Elizabeth Ogonek, Bruckner), Oct. 14 (Schubert, Mozart, Schumann), Oct. 15 (Brahms Symphony No. 2 and 3)
- Garrison Keillor, “Just Passing Through” in the Berkeley Talks series, Oct. 23
- Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, Nov. 4 (Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Scriabin) and Nov. 5 (Richard Strauss, Shchedrin, Prokofiev), both programs with pianist Denis Matsuev as soloist
- William Christie leads Les Arts Florissants in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Charpentier’s Actéon, Nov. 9
- The Joffrey Ballet returns after an absence much too long, Nov. 17-19, with Justin Peck’s In Creases, Alexander Ekman’s Episode 47, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Mammatus
- David Finckel (cello) and Wu Han (piano) in a Hertz Hall recital of music by Beethoven, Bruce Adolphe, Lera Auerbach, Mendelssohn, and Grieg, March 18, 2018
- Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony, with the California premiere of John Luther Adams’ Become Desert, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, April 7; Sibelius, Britten, and J.L. Adams’ Become Ocean, April 8
- Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, April 10–5
- Robert Lepage’s one-man show, Ex Machina, May 4–5
- Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in recital, playing works by Nielsen, Sibelius, Beethoven, Schubert, May 4, First Congregational Church
There are also returns by such treasured visitors as the Tetzlaff Quartet, Nov. 12, Hertz Hall; and the Takács Quartet, with Garrick Ohlsson, on Dec. 10. Mark Morris’ wry and sensational version of The Nutcracker, called The Hard Nut, will play in the holiday period, Dec. 15-24.
Among Cal Performances’ exploratory programs that bridge disciplinary lines:
- Reggie Wilson’s evening-length Moses(es), inspired by Zora Neale Hurston’s vernacular retelling of the biblical Moses story, Sept. 23–24
- Lila Downs sings of a Pan-American social consciousness, drawing on folk and ranchera music of Mexico and South America, American folk, jazz, blues, and hip-hop, Sept. 30
- ODC/Dance’s boulders and bones, inspired by an Andy Goldsworthy installation, choreographed by Brenda Way and KT Nelson, to a score by cellist Zoë Keating, Oct. 11
- Traditional and contemporary music performed by the orchestra from the Korean National Gugak Center, Oct. 28 (shows at 3 and 8 p.m.)
- Tango Buenos Aires in homage to Carlos Gardel, Nov. 11
- Festival of South African Dance, with The Gumboots and Pantsula dance companies, Nov. 12
- Imago Theater presents La Belle, with human actors and a cast of automatonic and shadow puppets “in a steampunk love story that is part Beauty and the Beast, part Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” Nov. 24–26
- Written in Water by the Ragamala Dance Company: Conceived and choreographed by Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy, “exploring the cultural complexities of the modern world through the metaphor of the ancient Indian board game Snakes and Ladders, Dec. 2–3
