Arts & Events

"We talk about literacy a lot these days--I think we have to talk about artistic literacy," said Matias Tarnopolsky, the executive and artistic director of Cal Performances at the unveiling last Monday of their new and ambitious season season--and of "Berkeley Radical"--at Meyer Sound Laboratories, Cal Perf's longtime technical partner. 

The location heralded some of Cal Perf's innovations: new shows will include programs like Olivier Messaien's symphonic composition for the American Bicentennial, Des Canyons aux Etoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars), performed by the exceptional St. Louis Symphony, conducted by their music director David Robertson, with projected landscape photography by Deborah O'Grady (and including Mahler's 5th Symphony and John Adams' Saxophone Concerto on the same program).  

The season's opener will be with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela with three wiorks by Beethoven (and, as with the St. Louis Symphony, other, often free, public events in a residency, including symposia, lectures, master classes, film screening and open rehearsals. 

Other music events include Kent Nagano conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra playing Debussy's Jeux, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 (with pianist Danill Trionov) and The Rite of Spring; Vefim Bronfman playing the complete Piano Sonatas of Prokofiev, Gil Shaham with his reconsiderations of Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for Violin (with films by David Michalek), pianist Murray Perahia, soprano Renee Fleming, Ensemble Intercontemporain (the ensemble founded by Pierre Boulez almost 40 years ago), Jordi Savall with Frank McGuire, Kronos Quartet playing Terry Riley--and much, much more. 

Dance events include Twyla Tharp's 50th anniversary tour, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Alvin Ailey and the Mark Morris Dance Group performing to Handel's L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato, played by the Philharmonia Baroque, conducted by Nicholas McGegan. 

There's such a wealth of talent from around the world in the classical and popular arts, from theater to jazz to ethnic pop music and singing, that the only way to grasp what the coming season has to offer is to visit calperformances.org 

And Berkeley Radical is an acronym, of course: Research And Development Initiative in Creativity, Arts and Learning