Nutcracker

SF Ballet

On Christmas Eve 1944, SF Ballet made history with the American premiere of Nutcracker, launching a national holiday tradition that continues to enchant audiences. Set in 1915 San Francisco, Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker takes place in a city celebrating a new age of technology. As the lights dim and the music soars, snowflakes swirl, flowers dance, and a child’s imagination takes flight. Experience the magic of a Nutcracker that is as unique as it is heartwarming.
One unforgettable, magical Christmas Eve journey
On a foggy Christmas Eve in 1915, Drosselmeyer puts the finishing touches on a magical nutcracker doll. It’s his gift for the Stahlbaum family, who have invited him to join their holiday festivities. Customers drop by his shop for last-minute Christmas gifts and Drosselmeyer shows them toys and clocks. Later, outside the Stahlbaum house, as people hurry home to their Christmas revelries, Drosselmeyer arrives with his beautifully wrapped present.

The Monkey King

SF Opera

猴王悟空 by Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang
San Francisco Opera World Premiere
Power alone is not enough. He’s arrogant. He’s disobedient. He’s becoming the most powerful being in creation, and he’s about to wreak havoc on heaven.
Based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, The Monkey King makes its much-anticipated world premiere at the War Memorial Opera House. This new, action-packed opera combines high-energy music and text with puppetry, dance, Peking opera, and Buddhist sutras to tell the tale of the Monkey King’s beginnings. The Monkey King is a beloved figure and has inspired countless interpretations in popular culture. A monkey born from stone, Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) is determined to find immortality for his tribe. Many scoff at his aspirations, but he is set on proving them wrong with his signature cunning and charm. He wins every battle against legendary warriors, but the respect he longs for is always out of reach. What will it take for the gods to recognize him as an equal? Award-winning director Diane Paulus and puppeteer Basil Twist conjure up a whimsical world of gods, tricksters, superheroes, and rebels. Huang Ruo’s soaringly beautiful, energized score and David Henry Hwang’s incisive libretto blend traditional Chinese and contemporary Western styles into an extraordinary work that gives new voice to this enduring story. Carolyn Kuan makes her Company debut on the podium.
Pre-show activities: Pre-show opera talk and front of house activations before the show, plus a Monkey King art installation!

World's Beyond

Berkeley Symphony

Acclaimed conductor and Berkeley Symphony’s own Ming Luke conducts the 25/26 season’s third performance, Worlds Beyond. This program explores the artist’s voice at moments of transition and liminality. Alma Monarca, a new work from Juan Pablo Contreras co-commissioned by Berkeley Symphony, is inspired by Contreras’s memories of celebrating Día de los Muertos in his grandfather’s hometown of Pátzcuaro, Mexico. Next, soprano Laquita Mitchell leads audiences through Richard Strauss’s haunting Four Last Songs, written as the composer contemplated the end of his life. Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) lifts the audience into the cosmos, inviting us to view our lives from a new perspective. We close with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony, a work that signifies the composer’s challenges navigating the political thresholds of his era.
Juan Pablo Contreras Alma Monarca
Richard Strauss Four Last Songs | Laquita Mitchell
Missy Mazzoli Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)
Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 9
Pre-show and post-show events: Berkeley symphony Symphonic series include a pre-concert talk at 3:00pm as well as a post-concert reception at 6pm, which will include snacks.

El Khat and Oruã

The Frieght

Due to circumstances beyond [The Freight’s] control, this performance has been canceled. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Get ready for a boundary-breaking night of global soundscapes, as we host an electrifying international co-bill with El Khat (Yemen/Berlin) and Oruã (Brazil).
El Khat channels the raw soul of Yemeni folk through a post-punk lens, crafting hypnotic grooves on handmade junkyard instruments. Led by Eyal El Wahab, this Berlin-based trio brings a gripping DIY aesthetic and sonic experimentation that’s as emotionally charged as it is rhythmically compelling. Sharing the bill is Oruã, the Rio de Janeiro psych-fusion collective blending MPB, samba, rock, and jazz into a swirling, modern expression of Brazil’s cultural pulse. Known for their explosive live energy and thoughtful lyricism, Oruã bridges tradition and futurism with infectious flair. This is not just a concert—it’s a visceral, cross-continental conversation between cultures, rhythm, and resistance. Don’t miss this singular night of musical reinvention at one of the Bay Area’s most beloved listening rooms.

So Many Stars Book Talk with Author Caro De Robertis

Free event! Including dinner, giveaways for signed copies of the book, and pictures with the author!
Award-winning novelist Caro De Robertis offers a first-of-its-kind, deeply personal, and moving oral history of a generation of queer and trans elders of color, from leading activists to artists to ordinary citizens to tell their stories of breathtaking courage, cultural innovations, and acts of resistance, all in their own words.
So Many Stars knits together the voices of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer and two-spirit elders of color as they share authentic, intimate accounts of how they created space for themselves and their communities in the world, how they pursued their passions, and how they continue to be at the vanguard of social change. This singular project collects the testimonies of over a dozen elders, each a glimmering thread in a luminous tapestry, preserving their words for future generations—who can more fully exist in the world today because of these very voices. De Robertis creates a collective coming-of-age story based on hundreds of hours of interviews, offering rare snapshots of ordinary life: kids growing up, navigating family issues and finding community, coming out and changing how they identify over the years, building movements and weathering the AIDS crisis, and sharing wisdom for future generations. Often narrating experiences that took place before they had the array of language that exists today to self-identify and to describe life beyond the gender binary, this generation lived through remarkable changes in American culture, shaped American culture, and yet rarely takes center stage in the history books. Their stories feel particularly urgent in the current political moment, but also remind readers that their experiences are not new. Young trans and nonbinary people of color today belong to a long lineage. The anecdotes in these pages are riveting, joyful, heartbreaking—so full of life and personality and wisdom, and artfully woven together into one immersive narrative. In De Robertis’s words, So Many Stars shares “behind-the-scenes tales of what it meant—and still means—to create an authentic life, against the odds.”

Sutra

Cal Performances

The US tour of Sutra has been canceled, including scheduled performances at Cal Performances, due to recent injuries sustained by central members of the cast.
Sadler’s Wells and Shaolin Temple present Sutra with the Monks of Shaolin Temple | Cal Performances Company Debut | Bay Area Premiere
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreographer
Antony Gormley, visual creation and design
Szymon Brzóska, composer
Contemporary dance and ancient martial arts combine in this award-winning collaboration between Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, sculptor Antony Gormley, composer Szymon Brzóska, and 20 Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple in China’s Henan Province.
Sutra explores the Shaolin kung fu tradition in the context of contemporary culture, inviting a cadre of modern-day practitioners to lend their skills—the flying kicks, backflips, and shadow-boxing practiced as part of their spiritual discipline—to a humorous fable about a European outsider learning about their monastery. With clever set design by Gormley and a chamber music score by Brzóska performed live, the production has earned rave reviews across the globe. “A brave, thrilling, elliptical piece…[an] odyssey into the mind of a Zen Buddhist” (The Telegraph, UK). 🎶 This performance features live music. Co-produced with Athens Festival, Festival de Barcelona Grec, Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, La Monnaie Brussels, Festival d’Avignon, Fondazione Musica per Roma, and Shaolin Cultural Communications Company

Third Coast Percussion & Salar Nader, tabla | Murmurs in Time

Cal Performances

In a poignant tribute to the late tabla master and longtime Cal Performances friend Zakir Hussain, Chicago’s Third Coast Percussion continues a collaboration initiated with the music legend before his passing. The Grammy-winning ensemble, praised for performances that “push percussion in new directions, blurring musical boundaries and beguiling new listeners” (NPR), had commissioned Hussain to compose Murmurs in Time—a major work that combines the beauty and complexity of Hindustani classical music with the group’s new-music ethos. In this new work, Salar Nader, a tabla virtuoso and disciple of Hussain since age seven, performs his teacher’s part in the ensemble. The program also includes newly commissioned works from in-demand composer/performers Jessie Montgomery, Tigran Hamasyan, and Jlin, and a solo performance by Nader.

Lila Downs

Cal Perfomances

Celebrate Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, with Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning Mexican American singer Lila Downs. With “a stunning voice [and] a confident multicultural vision grounded in her Mixtec Indian roots” (Los Angeles Times), Downs is admired for organically bridging cultures and languages as both a musician and activist. Backed by an all-star band, this Berkeley favorite brings her powerful voice and vibrant stage presence to a festive set of original and traditional songs in Spanish and English, as well as indigenous languages from her native Oaxaca.

SUFFS

Broadway SF

BEHIND EVERY POWERFUL WOMAN… ARE MORE POWERFUL WOMEN.
Direct from Broadway, comes the acclaimed Tony Award®-winning musical SUFFS about the brilliant, passionate, and funny American women who fought tirelessly for the right to vote. Created by Shaina Taub, the first woman to ever independently win Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score in the same season, this “thrilling, inspiring and dazzlingly entertaining” (Variety) new musical boldly explores the triumphs and failures of a struggle for equality that’s far from over. Winner of the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Musical.
“Like all of the best Broadway musicals, SUFFS humanizes, empowers, moves, and entertains.” -  Chicago Tribune
League of Women Voters Night! Pre-show welcome speech by League of Woman Voters Chief Executive Offers, Celina Stewart, and Post-show Q&A – featuring cast members of LWV and Celina Stewart

Branford Marsalis Quartet – Belonging Tour

SF Jazz

2011 NEA Jazz Master Branford Marsalis represents “the highest echelon of jazz tenor saxophonists” (Los Angeles Times). He returns with his superlative quartet featuring pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Reevis, and drummer Justin Faulkner to perform a range of music including a selection of the Keith Jarrett compositions that make up his 2025 Blue Note debut, Belonging — a reinterpretation of Jarrett’s landmark 1974 ECM quartet release of the same name.

Disney On Ice presents Frozen & Encanto

Oakland Arena

Step inside Disney stories like never before at Disney On Ice presents Frozen & Encanto! Dazzling ice skating transports you to Arendelle to be a part of Anna’s adventure to find Elsa in a wintry race to bring back summer. Then, enter the Casita Madrigal to join Mirabel’s journey to save her enchanted home alongside her sisters, Isabela and Luisa. Hosted by Mickey and Minnie, sing along and celebrate the power of love at Disney On Ice – the show everyone will be talking about!

DAVE RAGLAND PREMIERE plus THE FIREBIRD!

Oakland Symphony

Program:
Sara Davis Buechner, piano
Adebiyi Ojutiku, actor/narrator
ANNA CLYNE This Midnight Hour
MAURICE RAVEL Piano Concerto in G
DAVE RAGLAND Harmony of the Unheard for Actor and Orchestra
Music Composition by Dave Ragland
Text by Alicia Haymer
World Premiere – Oakland Symphony Commission
IGOR STRAVINSKY The Firebird Suite (1919)

Pre-concert talk by John Kendall Bailey begins at 7:05 pm

Kim’s Convenience

American Conservatory Theater

This hilarious and heartwarming award-winning comedy drama about a Korean family-run corner store that inspired the popular Netflix hit is a feel-good ode to generations of immigrants who have made Canada the country that it is today. Mr. Kim works hard to support his wife and children with his Toronto convenience store. As he evaluates his future, he faces both a changing neighborhood landscape and the gap between his values and those of his Canada-born children. Playwright Ins Choi, who will also star in the production as the title character, calls Kim’s Convenience his “love letter to his parents and to all first-generation immigrants who call Canada their home.” Pre-show Pride Night with A.C.T.: Mix and mingle at an LGBTQ+ themed party before the show. A.C.T. will be offering hosted snacks along with discounted drink specials. Doors open 1 hour prior to curtain.

Les Misérables

Broadway SF

STILL THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR MUSICAL
Cameron Mackintosh presents the acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, LES MISÉRABLES.
This brilliant staging has taken the world by storm and has been hailed as “Les Mis for the 21st Century” (Huffington Post), “a reborn dream of a production” (Daily Telegraph) and “one of the greatest musicals ever created” (Chicago Tribune). Set against the backdrop of 19th century France, LES MISÉRABLES tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption – a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. This epic and uplifting story has become one of the most celebrated musicals in theatrical history. The magnificent score of LES MISÉRABLES includes the songs “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own,” “Bring Him Home,” “One Day More,” “Master of the House” and many more. Seen by over 130 million people worldwide in 53 countries and 22 languages, LES MISÉRABLES is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular musicals.