UC Davis Events Calendar

Every month through May, staff and faculty can buy $10 tickets (maximum two per person) during a specified period of time for a specific show at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Well-Being Ticket Deal for November: Tickets on sale Nov.1-15 for a culture-infused music-and-dance performance by Pamyua at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 21. The Anchorage-based Pamyua blends traditional Inuit drum-dance melodies and R&B vocal styles in a genre often described as Inuit soul. Or maybe it’s tribal funk. Either way, Pamyua, formed in 1995, has become a symbol of pride for Alaska’s Indigenous people who see their Inuit traditions performed masterfully and with sincerity. This performance is associated with the SHAPE course “Radical Storywork: Performing Relational Approaches to Inuit Food Fermentation and Food Security.” SHAPE stands for Science, Humanities and Arts: Process and Engagement.

• By phone — Call 530-285-0992 from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Online — Use Promo Code BEWELL2122.

Legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz called the Liszt Transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies “the greatest works for the piano.” Who better than pianist Christopher Taylor, an innovative musician acclaimed as "seemingly possessed of superhuman powers" (Los Angeles Times), to tackle these demanding, illuminating works over four concerts. In Taylor’s last Mondavi Center appearance, he performed J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations in their entirety on a rare dual-manual Steinway piano. 

Sunday, November 6, 7:30pm
Symphony No. 1   
Symphony No. 2   
Symphony No. 5   

Sunday, November 7, 2pm
 Symphony No. 4 
Symphony No. 3  
 
Friday, April 22, 7:30pm
Symphony No. 6   
Symphony No. 7

Sunday, April 24, 2pm
Symphony No. 8   
Symphony No. 9  

Legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz called the Liszt Transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies “the greatest works for the piano.” Who better than pianist Christopher Taylor, an innovative musician acclaimed as "seemingly possessed of superhuman powers" (Los Angeles Times), to tackle these demanding, illuminating works over four concerts. In Taylor’s last Mondavi Center appearance, he performed J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations in their entirety on a rare dual-manual Steinway piano. 

Sunday, November 6, 7:30pm
Symphony No. 1   
Symphony No. 2   
Symphony No. 5   

Sunday, November 7, 2pm
 Symphony No. 4 
Symphony No. 3   

Friday, April 22, 7:30pm
Symphony No. 6   
Symphony No. 7

Sunday, April 24, 2pm
Symphony No. 8   
Symphony No. 9  

Eliza Jane Schnieder is a voice actor and dialect coach whose work has been featured on South Park, King of the Hill and numerous other animated shows and movies. She has taught and recorded dialects from all 50 states and around the English-speaking world. After having her wrist broken by a cop while protesting the first Gulf war, Schneider quit her “dream” job on television and set off across the country in search of … something she could not define. Almost 10 years and thousands of interviews later, she invites us on her journey in Freedom of Speech.  The piece sets up a dialogue between the disconnected: urban and rural; rich and poor; New York and the South, all while taking the audience on Schneider’s wild ride from Arizona to Alabama to Alaska, stopping off in beauty parlors, swimming holes, bars, street corners, and churches, asking everyone she met, simply, “What’s going on?” Dubbed by the press as “Wildly funny and genuinely poignant” Freedom of Speech blends the immediacy of a documentary with the intimacy of Schneider’s hilarious personal narrative to capture a muffled underlying voice of America that we won’t hear anywhere else. 

During her father's last years suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, singer and composer Liz Queler discovered a new and unexpected refuge in the words of the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Still Will Be Heard is the culmination of that burst of inspiration and renewed creativity. This music theater piece features 17 of Millay’s poems set to Liz and her partner Seth Farber's eclectic blend of folk, rock, jazz and bluegrass music. The songs, interspersed with spoken words culled from the writings of both women, take us on a journey by turns playful, dark, fierce and beautiful. 

Inuit soul music. Tribal funk. However you describe it, a Pamyua performance is a joyful expression of Indigenous culture. Formed in 1995, the group has created its own genre that merges traditional Inuit drumdance melodies with R&B vocal styles. Proud to represent Indigenous culture, the group believes unity is possible though music and dance and the members interpret Inuit traditions masterfully with joy and sincerity. The response to this message is tremendous as the group is a symbol of pride for Alaska’s indigenous people and to all who see them perform. 

Last we hosted Veronica Swift in 2019, she captivated Mondavi Center audiences with four thrilling nights of jazz standards. At just 25 years old, Swift has built a résumé that even many late-career jazz singers would envy: tours as a featured vocalist with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Chris Botti; a guest collaboration with Michael Feinstein; engagements at A-list clubs like Birdland, Jazz Standard, Dizzy’s Club and Jazz Showcase; and gigs at top festivals including Monterey, Montreal and Telluride, where she’s headlined. Her latest release, This Bitter Earth, shows immense growth from an artist that already appeared to be at the top of her game. Enjoy the rise of this meteoric talent as she makes her Mondavi Center return.

Joy to the World: A Christmas Musical Journey takes audiences through Damien Sneed’s original arrangements of gospel, jazz and classical favorites. Featuring a cast of 10 singers and musicians performing well-known holiday classics such as “Silent Night,” “This Christmas,” “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” “The Christmas Song,” “Joy To The World,” excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and many others. Sneed has worked with legends including Aretha Franklin, Wynton Marsalis, Jessye Norman, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Lawrence Brownlee, and was the creative mind behind We Shall Overcome, A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. presented in the 2018–19 season. 

A major artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco, the Alexander String Quartet is equally beloved in its second home, the Mondavi Center. This year the quartet appears with new violist David Samuel joining cellist Sandy Wilson, and violinists Fred Lifsitz and Zakarias Grafilo. All Alexander String Quartet performances will take place in Jackson Hall.

Robert Greenberg 
Greenberg has performed, taught and lectured extensively across North America and Europe. He is currently music historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances, where he has lectured and performed since 1994.

The Chamber Music of Antonin Dvořák 
No nineteenth century composer wrote chamber music more joyful, more melodically brilliant, more accessible, and more compositionally sound than did the Bohemian born and bred Antonin Dvořák  (1841-1904). Protégé of Johannes Brahms, father of nine children (all with his first and only wife); beloved teacher, conductor, violinist, and pianist, Dvořák was perhaps, along with Joseph Haydn, the nicest, kindest, least neurotic person ever to become a major composer. Like Haydn, Dvořák created a body of musical work remarkable for its straightforward expressive content, its humor, humanity, grace and technical polish.  

Sunday, December 5, 2pm: 
D Minor String Quartet, Op. 34 (1877) 
E-flat Major String Quartet, Op. 51 (1879) 
 
Sunday, January 30, 2pm: 
Cypresses for String Quartet (1865/1887) 
Bass Quintet, Op. 77 (1875/1878)* 
 
Sunday, May 15, 2pm: 
Bagatelles, Op. 47 for two violins, cello, harmonium or piano (1878)* 
Piano Quartet, Op. 87 (1889)* 
*guest artists to be announced at a later date  

J.S. Bach: Complete Brandenburg Concertos 

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) returns to the Mondavi Center to perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, works that unfailingly provide spiritual fulfillment for music lovers of all faiths and beliefs, inspiring strength at year’s end and a vision of the brightest future. The artistic core of CMS is a multigenerational, dynamic repertory company comprised of an evolving and unparalleled roster of performers. Demonstrating the belief that the future of chamber music lies in engaging and expanding the audience, these expert chamber musicians draw more people to the genre than any other organization of its kind. 

Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23
Elgar: Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 (Enigma Variations) 

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returns to the Mondavi Center with music director Vasily Petrenko leading a program of English and Russian. Britten rewrote the Four Sea Interludes to stand on their own from Peter Grimes, his masterful opera. Pianist Olga Kern joins the RPO as soloist on Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, one of the most beloved classical works. The Enigma Variations, 14 musical sketches of the composer’s friends, was the work that brought Elgar worldwide acclaim.

Virtuosic, next-gen circus ensemble Circa return with a new love letter to humanity. Following their global smash-hit Humans, which appeared at the Mondavi Center in 2019, Humans 2.0 takes full advantage of the proscenium stage to realize the vision of Circa’s Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz. With music by composer Ori Lichtik, lighting by Paul Jackson and ten of Circa’s finest ensemble members, this new work continues pushing the boundaries of what circus and acrobatics can be. Intimate, joyous and searching, Humans 2.0 sees the performers find redemptive power in strength and fiercely celebrate what it means to be human – a message of hope as the world reels from pandemic fallout.

A major artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco, the Alexander String Quartet is equally beloved in its second home, the Mondavi Center. This year the quartet appears with new violist David Samuel joining cellist Sandy Wilson, and violinists Fred Lifsitz and Zakarias Grafilo. All Alexander String Quartet performances will take place in Jackson Hall.

Robert Greenberg 
Greenberg has performed, taught and lectured extensively across North America and Europe. He is currently music historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances, where he has lectured and performed since 1994.

The Chamber Music of Antonin Dvořák 
No nineteenth century composer wrote chamber music more joyful, more melodically brilliant, more accessible, and more compositionally sound than did the Bohemian born and bred Antonin Dvořák  (1841-1904). Protégé of Johannes Brahms, father of nine children (all with his first and only wife); beloved teacher, conductor, violinist, and pianist, Dvořák was perhaps, along with Joseph Haydn, the nicest, kindest, least neurotic person ever to become a major composer. Like Haydn, Dvořák created a body of musical work remarkable for its straightforward expressive content, its humor, humanity, grace and technical polish.  

Sunday, December 5, 2pm: 
D Minor String Quartet, Op. 34 (1877) 
E-flat Major String Quartet, Op. 51 (1879) 
 
Sunday, January 30, 2pm: 
Cypresses for String Quartet (1865/1887) 
Bass Quintet, Op. 77 (1875/1878)* 
 
Sunday, May 15, 2pm: 
Bagatelles, Op. 47 for two violins, cello, harmonium or piano (1878)* 
Piano Quartet, Op. 87 (1889)* 
*guest artists to be announced at a later date  

Led by consummate trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and comprised of 15 of the finest soloists, ensemble players and arrangers, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has been hailed as “the greatest large jazz ensemble working today” by the Chicago Tribune. Over his many cherished appearances at the Mondavi Center, Marsalis has compelled and charmed audiences while presenting the full vigor and vision of America’s music, as interpreted by some of our finest living musicians. The Orchestra will draw from a repertoire that includes classic Blue Note Records selections and tunes made famous by John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis and more. 

Opera is an artistic medium that articulates and confronts human passions with powerful immediacy. This conviction is what drives Heartbeat Opera’s desire to rejuvenate opera and to transform its recognized masterpieces from venerated relics into freshly challenging encounters.  

In this stunning adaptation of Beethoven’s Fidelio, a black activist is wrongfully incarcerated.  His wife, Leah, disguises herself to infiltrate the system and free him. But when injustice reigns, one woman’s grit may not be enough to save her love.  Fidelio’s live cast of five singers and seven musicians are joined by a prerecorded virtual chorus of more than 100 incarcerated singers from six prison choirs in the United States. The result is “Imaginative, vital and heartbreaking” (The New Yorker).  This daring work pits corruption against courage, hate against hope.  

Opera is an artistic medium that articulates and confronts human passions with powerful immediacy. This conviction is what drives Heartbeat Opera’s desire to rejuvenate opera and to transform its recognized masterpieces from venerated relics into freshly challenging encounters. 
 
In this stunning adaptation of Beethoven’s Fidelio, a black activist is wrongfully incarcerated.  His wife, Leah, disguises herself to infiltrate the system and free him. But when injustice reigns, one woman’s grit may not be enough to save her love. Fidelio’s live cast of five singers and seven musicians are joined by a prerecorded virtual chorus of more than 100 incarcerated singers from six prison choirs in the United States. The result is “Imaginative, vital and heartbreaking” (The New Yorker). This daring work pits corruption against courage, hate against hope.  

In a cultural landscape filled with endless pundits and talking heads, Fran Lebowitz stands out as one of our most insightful social commentators. Her essays and interviews offer her acerbic views on current events and the media as well as pet peeves including tourists, baggage-claim areas, after-shave lotion, adults who roller skate, children who speak French or anyone who is unduly tan. The New York Times Book Review calls Lebowitz an “important humorist in the classic tradition.” Purveyor of urban cool, Lebowitz is a cultural satirist whom many call the heir to Dorothy Parker. Martin Scorsese directed a documentary about Lebowitz for HBO titled Public Speaking. A new limited documentary series, Pretend It’s a City, also directed by Martin Scorsese, premiered on Netflix in 2021. 

Founded by Ronald K. Brown in 1985 and based in Brooklyn, New York, Evidence, A Dance Company focuses on the seamless integration of traditional African dance with contemporary choreography and spoken word. Through work, Evidence provides a unique view of human struggles, tragedies, and triumphs. Brown uses movement as a way to reinforce the importance of community in African American culture and to acquaint audiences with the beauty of traditional African forms and rhythms. Equality of Night and Day, a new piece by Brown and Evidence, will make its Mondavi Center debut. 

Equality of Night and Day is a new work by Ronald K. Brown and Evidence examining the concepts of balance, equity and fairness. Initially inspired by John Coltrane’s “Equinox,” Brown assembled a remarkable team of collaborated to create the piece: an original score from pianist and composer Jason Moran; spoken word elements from poet and activist Angela Davis; a photographic display projected on stage curated by Deborah Willis; costumes designed by Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya, who has collaborated with Brown since 1995; and scenic and lighting design by Evidence’s technical director Tsubasa Kamei.

Busoni: Duettino Concertante 

Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances
 
Busoni: Fantasia Contrappuntistica

Ravel: La Valse

Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Kirill Gerstein’s playing is distinguished by its clarity of expression, discerning intelligence and virtuosity, and an energetic, imaginative musical presence that places him at the top of his profession. This concert brings the two generational talents together in a program featuring highlights of the two-piano repertoire: Busoni’s arrangement of the finale of Mozart’s piano concerto in F Major and his homage to Bach, the Fantasia Contrappuntistica; Rachmaninoff’s own arrangement of his exhilarating late career Symphonic Dances; and the virtuosic La Valse. 

Kinetech Arts combines the work of dancers, scientists and digital artists to create innovative and socially responsible performances. Its piece PASSAGE is an immersive experience that explores the relationship between entropy and time through dance, sound and video installations. The perpetual increase of disorder, or entropy, defines the one-way direction of time. PASSAGE embraces the transience and uncertainties of each moment—and the infinite future possibilities that are inevitably collapsed into memory as we pass through time.