Performing arts

paper cutout shadows projected on a wall of a little girl entering a forest all alone

Arts & culture

Shadow puppets and revenge: Manual Cinema’s new take on ‘Macbeth’

On Nov. 22, Cal Performances is presenting The 4th Witch, about a war-orphaned girl who is apprenticed by the three witches from the original Shakespeare play.

Carla Shapreau holds up and discusses an antique violin from the Salz Collection to a group of middle school students on a field trip

Arts & culture

The secret lives of violins — and the Berkeley scholar who uncovers them

a woman looks at enlarged mounted photos on a gallery wall

Arts & culture

Berkeley Talks: How art allows us to see everyday things anew

Chris performs pirekua in Michoacán with a music group of five members

Arts & culture

‘Always in motion’: New professor studies the flow of music across borders and cultures

the uc berkeley symphony orchestra performs in Europe while david milnes conducts. it has some motion blur that gives the image a dream-like quality.

Encores and sold-out performances: The UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra tours Europe

uc berkeley students walk by the music department's Morrison Hall on campus

‘Crucial for the human spirit’: Why the music major is booming at Berkeley

The roots of the groove of African American pop music, explained

Dancers from the Joffrey Ballet perform on stage

Cal Performances announces its 2025-26 season

A performance on stage of the chamber opera The Great Yes, The Great No. There is a projected image of a woman on a backdrop with three performers with spotlights on them in three corners of the stage.

William Kentridge’s ‘The Great Yes, The Great No’ is a voyage of chaos and creativity

Two actors, who play Jinzo and Catherine in the opera Both Eyes Open, kneel together, holding hands

For 50 years, he’s written about the Japanese American internment. Now, he’s turning to opera.

Two musicians in the UC Nu Jazz Collective play guitar onstage in the emsemble at a performance at Wu Hall, a new venue in Morrison Hall. The students are seated with music stands in front of them and their amplified guitars in their grasp.

Musical gifts: New campus performance hall, an unprecedented surge in music majors

about a dozen dancers in the nutcracker suite perform on stage. six are wearing rat masks and dancing around a group of dancers who look frightened.

The Sugar Rum Fairy? A freewheeling, jazzy reimagination of ‘The Nutcracker’

A traditional Indonesian musical ensemble performs

New 100-seat performance hall opens on campus

Seven acrobatic performers dressed like pro wrestlers perform a scene in a ring

Circus arts meet pro wrestling in a raucous theatrical performance

Performers on stage in the Broadway show,

Two centuries later, performance spaces still struggle with ‘soft censorship’

UC Berkeley musicology professor Nicholas Mathew sits for the camera, next to a still photo of an Olympian.

Watch a UC Berkeley professor break down the origins and stories behind national anthems

All Performing arts