Catch Sean Mason at the Mondavi Center

Thursday, Oct. 10 through Saturday, Oct. 12, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center

Experience the innovation and remarkable breadth of style that has earned pianist Sean Mason a spot among the rising stars in jazz today.

Mason’s debut album, The Southern Suite, highlights his exceptional skill as a musician, composer, bandleader and storyteller. The music, in Mason’s words, is “a candid celebration of life,” with deep roots in the south and featuring a rich roster of influences from J.S. Bach to Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis and many points between. His Mondavi Center debut is an opportunity to discover one of the most celebrated artists on the contemporary music scene and his rich blend of cultural and musical influences.

Tickets are selling fast, get yours here Sean Mason | Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

When you become a Mondavi Center subscriber, you can save 15% when you purchase 3 or more events. Find out more here: Subscriptions | Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

Austrian composer Hannes Dufek is giving a Valente Lecture at the Art Annex

Thursday, Oct. 10, 4:10 p.m., Room 101 (“sound lab") at the Art Annex

Visiting composer Hannes Dufek, from Vienna, will be speaking about his music and what went into a black heart, the death of a friend and the end of a place: some lessons in falling apart. This work will be premiered by the Empyrean Ensemble. Dufek’s main interest lies in the possibility of free spaces in and through music.

Learn more about Hannes Dufek on his website: Hannes Dufek

This talk is made possible with support from the Austrian Consul General of Los Angeles.​

Get excited for Clarissa Tossin’s artist talk

Thursday, Oct. 10, 4:30 p.m., the California Studio at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art

Clarissa Tossin, currently teaching the undergraduate course Art 190 and the graduate seminar Art 290D at UC Davis, will be holding an artist talk at the California Studio this month. Tossin’s art focuses on proposing alternate narratives for places defined by histories of colonization by intertwining research with storytelling. You may know some of her work from the Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing or from her solo exhibition at Frye Art Museum in Seattle. Make sure to stop by.

Check out her work here. 

Listen to Nick May on the solo saxophone for noon concert

Thursday, Oct. 10, 12:05 p.m., Recital Hall at the Ann E. Pitzer Center

Program

All new works by graduate students in music:

• Guang Yang: Untitled

• Jacob Lane

• Dean Kervin Boursiquot

• Alejandro Arreola: …for the time being: two meditations for alto saxophone

• Joseph Martin: Gofod

• James R. Larkins: Better Than One

Find out about Jacob Lane here. 

Empyrean Ensemble will showcase Hannes Dufek’s new work

Sunday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center

Pre-concert talk at 6:15 with the composers

Sam Nichols, director • Matilda Hofman, resident conductor

Musicians Playing
Stacey Pelinka, flute
Kyle Bruckmann, oboe
Peter Josheff, clarinet*
Jennifer Ellis, harp
Ben Prima, percussion
Terrie Baune, violin
Ellen Ruth Rose, viola*
Thalia Moore, cello*

*core member

Program

• Hannes Dufek: a black heart, the death of a friend and the end of a place: some lessons in falling apart WORLD PREMIERE

• Addie Camsuzou: As Above WORLD PREMIERE
  (Ph.D. music ‘23)

• Hendel Almétus: Beyond the Waves WORLD PREMIERE
  (Ph.D. music ‘14)

• Martha Horst: Dickinson Fragments WORLD PREMIERE
  (Ph.D., music ‘96)

Experience the magic of Musical Theatre Dance Workshop

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 6:30 p.m., Hickey Gym

Led by Meredith Joelle Donato, acclaimed Bay area choreographer and teaching artist, students are invited to participate and learn choreography for “Wilkommen,” the opening number to the musical Cabaret. Donato has a diverse work experience that includes American Conservatory Theater, where they worked on the world premiere of A Walk on the Moon. Reserve a spot before it fills up here: Reserve Workshop Space 

Next week

See Giulia Cailotto in 'Ahead of Their Time: Adelaide Ristori and Clara Schumann'

Thursday, Oct. 17, 12:05 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center

featuring Italian actress Giulia Cailotto

with UC Davis lecturers in music:

   Dagenais Smiley, violin

   Susan Lamb Cook, cello

   I-Hui Chen, piano

“Ahead of their Time” is an inspirational story about Adelaide Ristori, 19th century actress and entrepreneur, as told by Italian actress Giulia Cailotto, intertwined with the music and story of 19th-century pianist and composer Clara Schumann. The stories of Adelaide Ristori and Clara Schumann were an inspiration for women of their time and continues to be an inspiration for women of all ages today.

Program

Robert Schumann: Quasi Variazioni Andantino de Clara Wieck

Clara Schumann: Trio in G Minor, op. 17

and The story of Adelaide Ristori as told by Giulia Cailotto

Learn more about Giulia Cailotto and the program here "Ahead of Their Time: Adelaide Ristori and Clara Schumann" - UC Davis Arts 

Get your well-being ticket deal this October for Mariza at the Mondavi Center

Discounted tickets available until Wednesday, Oct. 16 with code BEWELL, limit of two tickets

Performance: Friday, Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m., Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center

No other Portuguese artist since Amália Rodrigues has built an international career with as much success on the most prestigious world stages than Mariza.

She began her 20-year career as an almost hidden local phenomenon, known only to a small circle of Lisbon admirers. Today, she transcends her own name, regarded as one of the most applauded stars on the World Music circuit and a true ambassador of the melancholy, blues-like Portuguese fado, boldly taking it along new and daring paths without ever losing sight of its soul.

Get your special discounted tickets at this site. You must capitalize the promotion word "BEWELL".

Outside UC Davis, get tickets here.

Attend the Woodland Opera House’s new production, Puffs

Running from Friday, Oct. 18 to Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Woodland Opera House, 340 Second Street, Woodland, 95695. Tickets from $9

For seven years a certain boy wizard went to a certain Wizard School and conquered evil. This, however, is not his story. This is the story of the Puffs… who just happened to be there too. A tale for anyone who has never been destined to save the world. Puffs (or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic), written by Matt Cox, offers a comedic and fresh take on a familiar magical world, retelling the story from the perspective of the underdog students in the "Puff" house at a certain wizarding school.

Get tickets here.

The Mondavi Center presents Threshold

Running from Friday, Oct. 18 through Sunday, Oct. 20, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center, tickets from $10

Threshold, a dual program by choreographer Claudine Naganuma of dNaga Dance Co. and Choreographer SanSan Kwan, offers a feminist response to anti-Asian violence and Asian American invisibility. This evening of dance ushers audiences into an encounter with the shadows and structures that uphold racial violence and choreographs a space of restoration and liberation. Join us in exploring the kinetics of resilience.

“Unbound” a performance directed by Claudine Naganuma and performed by dNaga Dance Co. explores the origins of anti-Asian violence through poignant narratives of incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, the impact of patriarchy on girls, and the modern-day repercussions of racist legislation. The piece delves into trajectories of hope through themes of unity and care, drawing inspiration from figures like Yuri Kochiyama and examining the practices that propel us towards collective liberation.  

When we witness a violent act, a pain is felt through the body. “Two Doors,” a performance directed by SanSan Kwan, explores the viscerality of anti-Asian racism and the sovereignty that we wrestle for ourselves in response. Dancers experiment with closings and openings, weight sharing and weight bearing, surveillance and care, playing with the kinetics of in/visibility, anticipated harm, redress, and repair.

Get tickets here: Threshold | Mondavi Center 

Meet Eungie Joo, curator and head of contemporary art at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 4:30 p.m., at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art

Eungie Joo will be visiting UC Davis to give an artist talk on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Joo was the founding director of and curator of REDCAT in Los Angeles as well as work in the Korean Pavillion at the 53rd Venice Biennale where she presented Condensation by Haegue Yage. This summer, Joo curated several exhibits at SFMOMA including Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine) by Kara Walker, the museum’s first ever commission for the admission-free, street-level Roberts Family Gallery.

Eungie Joo is the fall quarter spotlight curator in The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies.

For ongoing exhibits in Davis at UC Davis museums, click here: Ongoing art exhibits at UC Davis