Playlist: Angela Davis

https://www.oaklandsymphony.org/event/playlist-angela-y-davis/

Program: The Oakland Symphony’s signature Playlist returns to celebrate Angela Y. Davis. Activist. Educator. Conscience of a generation. She will share the music that inspired her courage and her commitment. Hosted by W. Kamau Bell, Oakland Symphony’s 2018 Playlist honoree.

With Special Guests:
Goapele
Viveca Hawkins
Francisco Herrer
Martin Luther McCoy
PHER
Elena Pinderhughes
Valerie Troutt
CO-LLAB CHOIR
Oakland Symphony Chorus
& MORE!

Angela Davis
W. Kamau Bell, sociopolitical comedian
Rickey Minor, conductor

AMERICAN KALEIDOSCOPE

https://www.berkeleysymphony.org/event/american-kaleidoscope

Embark on an extraordinary symphonic voyage where vibrant melodies and cultural connections intertwine. Experience the rare harmonies of Barber's Essay for Orchestra No. 2, the jazz-infused brilliance of Johnson's Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody with the Marcus Roberts Trio, and the introspective introspections of Peter S. Shin's Relapse. Prepare for the timeless allure of Gershwin's iconic Rhapsody in Blue, a dazzling fusion of classical, jazz, and popular music. This captivating program celebrates the evolution of American music, offering a spellbinding kaleidoscope of sounds to ignite your passion for live music.

Joseph Young, conductor

BARBER, Essay for Orchestra No. 2
JOHNSON, Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody
Marcus Roberts Trio
PETER S. SHIN, Relapse
GERSHWIN, Rhapsody in Blue

PRE-CONCERT CHAT 1 hour before the show
These informative and engaging pre-concert talks offer fascinating insights into the music you are about to experience. Learn about the program’s cultural and historical context, along with guided listening. Additionally, there will be live interviews with guest artists, composers, and orchestra musicians! Music talks take place one hour before all Symphonic Series concerts, excluding the opening night concert. Admission is free to all ticket holders.

Approximate run time is 2.5 hours with intermission and post-concert reception (complimentary for all attendees) included.

Celebrating Fil-Am History Month with The Sampaguitas and Friends

https://secure.thefreight.org/12968/the-sampaguitas-and-friends

The Sampaguitas celebrate Fil-Am History Month with Theresa Calpotura, Genesis Fermin, Lenny San Jose (aka Ukulenny), and Kaisahan AfroCubalintang. Join us for an evening of Philippine folk songs in three-part harmonies, soulful interpretations, sing-a-longs, excerpts from Theresa's 100-year-old grandmother’s life, Filipinx mythology, and Kulintang-AfroCuban island roots fusion, honoring the late Kulintang master, Danongan Kalanduyan. The Sampaguitas also celebrate the release of their debut album, The Sampaguitas: Folk Songs from the Philippines and Beyond, with non-profit label Little Village Foundation.

The Moth StorySLAM - ADULTING

https://secure.thefreight.org/12100/the-moth-1004

ADULTING: Prepare a five-minute story about the highs and lows of coming of age and the trials and tribulations of getting there. Old enough to know better or wishing someone else would grow the heck up. Faking it 'til you make it, rites of passage and the great onslaught of responsibility. You know what they say: age is just a number.

Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of stories told live and without notes.

Moth shows are renowned for the great range of human experience they showcase. Each show starts with a theme, and the storytellers explore it, often in unexpected ways. Since each story is true and every voice authentic, the shows dance between documentary and theater, creating a unique, intimate, and often enlightening experience for the audience.

The Moth was founded by the novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, when moths were attracted to the light on the porch where he and his friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. The first New York Moth event was held in George’s living room and the story events quickly spread to larger venues throughout the city.

Through ongoing programs in more than 29 cities, The Moth has presented over 30,000 stories to standing-room-only crowds worldwide and it currently produces more than 500 live shows each year. Additionally, The Moth runs storytelling workshops for high school students and adults in underserved communities through their Education and Community Programs.

The Moth has an enthusiastic following for all of its content. The Moth podcast is downloaded more than 50 million times a year, and each week, the Peabody Award-winning Moth Radio Hour is heard on over 480 radio stations worldwide. The Moth’s first book, The Moth: 50 True Stories was a NYT Bestseller and its newest book, All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown was released March, 2017.

Ai Weiwei with Peter Sellars and Orville Schell

https://calperformances.org/events/2023-24/speakers/ai-weiwei-with-peter-sellars-and-orville-schell/

Returning to the Berkeley campus for the first time in 15 years, renowned artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei discusses art, politics, and modern life in a conversation with respected theater director Peter Sellars and Orville Schell, Director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society. Ai’s unprecedented installation on Alcatraz in 2014–15, @Large, left an enduring mark on the Bay Area’s cultural landscape, an effort the Los Angeles Times called “an always-poignant, often-powerful meditation on soul-deadening repressions of human thought and feeling.” Ai addresses issues of exile, imprisonment, repression, and advocacy that have infused his personal life and artistic work with fellow artist Sellars, himself an avid student of Chinese history and culture, and Schell, a leading expert on China and the Far East. This program continues a series of campus talks about China led by Schell, who is former Dean at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.