Youn Sun Nah brings jazz to Davis

From Thursday, Nov. 7 through Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m., Vanderhoef Studio at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, run time is approximately 90 minutes with no intermission

Youn Sun Nah first heard Nina Simone in high school. From that moment on, she decided to pursue jazz.

Long hailed for her style-blurring renditions of artists spanning from Tom Waits and Jimi Hendrix to Marvin Gaye and Metallica, her most recent album, Elles sees Youn Sun Nah bringing her remarkable voice and unique perspective to a range of songs made famous by such iconic female artists as Björk, Sarah Vaughan, Grace Jones, Roberta Flack, Edith Piaf, Grace Slick, Maria João and, of course, Nina Simone.

Youn Sun Nah will be joined by Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Ruslan Sirota, whose past collaborations have included some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Seal, Josh Groban, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Watch her official music video for Feeling Good here: Youn Sun Nah – Feeling Good (Official Video) 

Get tickets here: Youn Sun Nah Duo | Mondavi Center 

Festival Napa Valley’s Manetti Shrem Opera presents Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale, live as well-being deal

Ticket deal avaliable until Nov. 13

Friday, Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m., Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

Note: The Well-being ticket is for the UC Davis faculty, staff and retirees only. Members of the public may purchase tickets to this event through mondaviarts.com here.

The effervescent Peruvian and Mexican American Soprano Vanessa Becerra stars as Norina in Donizetti’s classic comedy, Don Pasquale.

Set in vibrant 1980s Miami, the fully staged production is enhanced by Anouar Brissel’s cutting-edge interactive video set. Think Pink Flamingos, Golf Carts, and Jazzercise.

The extraordinary cast includes tenor Jonah Hoskins as Ernesto, baritone Alexey Lavrov as Dr. Malatesta, and bass-baritone Matt Burns as Don Pasquale. Noah Lindquist leads Festival Orchestra Napa in this enduring tale of love and deception. Jean- Romain Vesperini directs.

Read the digital program here.

Faculty, staff and retirees: to get the Well-Being $10 ticket deal, use code “BEWELL” here when you’re purchasing tickets or call 530-754-2787 from 1 to 5 p.m. open Tuesdays through Fridays

Listen to the violin, viola, and cello for Thursday's Shinkoskey Noon Concert

Thursday, Nov. 7, 12:05 p.m., Recital Hall at Ann E. Pitzer Center, free

Pop up performance on Friday, Nov. 8, 1-2 p.m., Peter J. Shields Library on the Grand Staircase Mezzanine.

Aromi Park, violin
Kimberlee Uwate, viola (B.A. music ‘08)
Seth Biagini, cello

Program

Franz Schubert: Trio in B Flat Major, D. 471

Bohuslav Martinů: Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola

Paul Wiancko: American Haiku アメリカン俳句 

Ernst von Dohnányi: Serenade for String Trio, op. 10

Read more about the artists and their performance here: Music for String Trio - UC Davis Arts 

Department of Art and Art History lecture series features Fernando Palma Rodríguez

Thursday, Nov. 7, 4:30 p.m., at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, free

Fernando Palma Rodríguez combines his training as an artist and mechanical engineer to create robotic sculptures that utilize custom software to perform complex, narrative choreographies. Central to Palma Rodríguez’s practice is an emphasis on indigenous ancestral knowledge, both as an integral part of contemporary life and a way of shaping the future.

Drawing on Aztec mythology and pictorial codices — as well as colonial histories — his works reframe language through the physical activation of these linguistic symbols. He lives in the agricultural region of Milpa Alta outside Mexico City, where he runs Calpulli Tecalco, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Nahua language and culture.

Experience magic with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

Thursday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis

“When you’re talking about Cloud Gate, ‘magic’ is not too strong a word.” Effusive praise from no less a source than Time Out magazine, reads the Mondavi Center description of this event. 

Formed in Taiwan in 1973, Cloud Gate is known for transforming ancient aesthetics into a thrilling and modern celebration of motion. Indeed, Cloud Gate could very well be compared to the story-ballet spectacle stylings of Mondavi Center favorites Ballet Preljocaj or Akram Khan.  13 Tongues is inspired by the childhood of current artistic director Cheng Tsung-lung and has been praised as “a sensationally big, indulgent, and visually arresting expression of cultural memory” (The Times).

Read the digital program PDF here and get tickets here.

Explore Choreo-Ecologies: A Dance Dialogue with Nature

Thursday, Nov. 7 and Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., Della Davidson Performance Studio in Nelson Hall, spots are full but check back for cancellations

Choreo-Ecologies, curated by Doria E. Charlson, visiting professor of dance, showcases works in development inspired by relationship of movement and nature. The student dancers will share their works-in-process on Nov. 7 and 8 at the Della Davidson Performance Studio in Nelson Hall. 

Choreo-Ecologies is an investigative process undertaken by undergraduate dancers at UC Davis aimed at exploring the myriad relationships between movement and nature. “Choreo-Ecologies” invites audiences to consider the ways in which our bodies are entangled within ecological systems and how attuning to the way the world moves around us can offer us new perspectives on our relationship to the planet and all its inhabitants. 

In collaboration with scientists associated with the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, students have been engaging in choreographic research that is centered on the following questions: How can we attend to the choreographics of the world around us? How does/might our relationship to nature change when viewed through the lens of movement and dance? And, how can we use our bodies to visualize/embody/create/discover new modes of engagement with the natural world? 

To participate, reserve tickets here: Reserve Nov. 7 and Reserve Nov. 8.

Sneak peek/next week

Austrian filmmakers for award-winning 'The Devil's Bath' are Lunn Lecture speakers

Thursday, Nov. 14, 4-6 p.m., at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, free. Followed by film screening at Cruess Hall

"From Reality to Truth: (Re)Creating History in Film"

Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s most recent film, The Devil’s Bath (2024), was based on UC Davis Professor Kathy Stuart’s original research. It won a Silver Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival and is Austria’s official entrant for the 2025 Academy Awards. It is this year's Eugene Lunn Memorial Lecture.

Franz and Fiala’s discussion, “From Reality to Truth: (Re)Creating History in Film” asks, “How do you (re)create history in a film? How do you depict a concrete place and time when only scarce sources convey a vague idea of how the past might have looked like and felt to its contemporaries…We’ll follow the path from fact to truth during the production of our film The Devil’s Bath," which tells a story about women's mental health, motherhood, and life in early Modern Europe.

The Devil's Bath (120 minutes) will have a separate showing on campus on Thursday, Nov. 14 in Cruess 1002 from 8:15-11 p.m. This includes a post- screening Q&A with the filmmakers and Professors Stuart and Kyu Kim. Like the Lunn Lecture, it is free and open to the public. The film will be screened in its original German with English subtitles.

Content warning: this film has some disturbing content and scenes.

Read more about the Lunn Lecture and the book, event and film here. Read more about Stuart's research in this story. 

The Pence Gallery’s annual Holiday Market returns to Davis

Running from Friday, Nov. 8 through Tuesday, Dec. 24, open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Opening reception is on Friday, Nov. 8, 6-9 p.m.

Do you need gifts for the upcoming holiday season? If you do, the Pence Gallery has you covered with their annual Holiday Market. Stop by to get your loved ones hand-crafted gifts made by local artists and artisans. Over 50 artists will be selling their work this year ranging from knit items to ceramics and jewelry. 

Pence members receive 10% off all Holiday Market purchases! Watch for upcoming guide to arts-related gifts next month in the Arts Blog. 

For more information visit Holiday Market – Pence Gallery 

Share the joy of stand-up comedy with W. Kamau Bell Friday

Friday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m., Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center of the Performing Arts

W. Kamau Bell returns to the world of stand-up, bringing his talent for “finding the comic absurdity in darkness” (Time Magazine) to the Jackson Hall stage for an illuminating evening of comedy.

Bell’s CNN docuseries United Shades of America won five Emmy awards, and he was awarded a Peabody for his docuseries We Need to Talk About Cosby. The list of accolades only continues to grow with his second book, Do the Work: An Antiracism Activity Book, making The New York Times bestseller list and his second comedy special, Private School Negro currently available on Netflix.

Get tickets here: An Evening with W. Kamau Bell | Mondavi Center

Save the date

‘Unexpected Legends’ film on UC Davis Arts will appear on KVIE next Wednesday

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m., KVIE

Unexpected Legends will make its television debut on KVIE at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13. It will also be streaming on-demand through the PBS app.

The film is an extension of the Year of the Eggheads, a campuswide celebration of Robert Arneson, a longtime professor at UC Davis and the creator of the five sculptures comprising the Egghead Series on campus that have elicited joy, engagement and conversation since their installation in 1994. A preview of the film, with an accompanying panel discussion of UC Davis Art faculty and a student, was held at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art on Monday.

Stay in the loop by subscribing to the Eggheads newsletter and read the full article about the documentary here.