Shinkoskey Noon Concert features violin, piano
Lingyu Dong, violin • Roger Xia, piano, a Shinkoskey Noon Concert
Thursday, Oct. 16, 12:05–1 p.m., Pitzer Center, Lingyu Dong, violin • Roger Xia, piano
Program
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, op. 96
Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major, op. 100
Poet Laureate Arthur Sze on campus this week; Reading Thursday
After his appearance at the with Chinese Poetry Wednesday he will then take part Thursday in ; Thursday, 4 to 6 p.m. at the Student Community Center Multipurpose Room. The event is co-sponsored by Comparative Literature, Creative Writing, East Asian Languages and Cultures, East Asian Studies and Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. Sze is the U.S. Poet Laureate, a translator and editor. He is the author of 12 books of poetry and the recipient of numerous poetry prizes, including the Bollingen Prize for American Poetry for his lifetime achievement in 2025
Carol Moldaw is an American poet and the author of seven books of poetry. The recipient of an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and a Lannan Foundation Residency Fellowship, she lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Spooky stuff to view; Shakespeare
Michael Dylan Foster’s TV series on Japanese yōkai(YOKAI: Exploring Hidden Japanese Folklore — Kijimuna) premiered last weekend. . He is a professor in
In Santa Cruz, Alum in Shakespeare
A 2025 alum is now touring with Shakespeare Santa Cruz in two productions that include a bilingual (English/Spanish) Romeo & Juliet that she helped translate. Read .
Amy Balkin speaks Friday at Cruess
Friday, Oct. 17, 11 a.m. to noon
Amy Balkin will discuss sited, durational, and participatory projects and collaborations including Public Smog (a ‘clean-air’ park in the atmosphere), Invisible-5 (an environmental justice audio tour of the I-5 corridor), A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting, and other artworks engaged with public participation, equity and climate change’s bureaucracies. Balkin’s presentation is Oct. 17 at 11 a.m. in 1105 Cruess Hall.
Balkin is an artist whose work involves land and the geopolitical relationships that frame it. Her solo and collaborative projects, including Public Smog and Invisible-5, consider political and legal borders and systems, environmental justice, and the allocation of common-pool resources.
Balkin received her MFA from the Stanford University Department of Art & Art History, and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her works have been exhibited internationally, and her project “This is the Public Domain” was included in the publication Situation (MIT Press, 2009). More about Amy Balkin: visit her
The Department of Design is part of the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis.
Artist Talk at Gorman Saturday afternoon
Join in a reception and discussion 1-3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 18 with Charles Froelick, discussing the work and life of Rick Bartow, whose work is being shown at the Gorman Museum of Native American Art through January. Froelick is the owner of Froelick Gallery in Portland, Oregon, and will discuss his unique and longstanding professional and personal relationship with artist Rick Bartow. More .
Calvera Posada Stamp Carving workshop at TANA
Calavera Posada Stamp Carving Workshop, Saturday, noon to 4 p.m., Led by guest artist Sean Guerra, drop in anytime during workshop hours,
Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA), 1224 Lemen Ave. Woodland
Join TANA on Saturday, Oct. 18 for the second installment of their Saturday workshop series leading up to our Día de los Muertos celebration on Nov. 1.
This family-friendly workshop will introduce participants to the art of linocut and stamp printing, using an accessible method of carving rubber stamps to create relief prints inspired by calaveras and the tradition of José Guadalupe Posada.
Guest artist Sean Guerra will guide participants through the process and print alongside the group. All materials will be provided (while supplies last), and no registration is required. The last workshop filled quickly, participants are encouraged to arrive early.
Art Spark this weekend at Manetti Shrem (Saturday)
Spend an afternoon with special guests from the university’s Center for Space Exploration Research. Learn about their research on living in space using the Human Robotics Vehicle Integration and Performance Lab, and the ways the center’s artist-in-residence program connects scientific and creative exploration.
Every Saturday in October, you can follow the threads between fiber artworks in the exhibition “Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice” that explore relationships — including Sarah Rosalena’s milestones of space exploration and Tiffany Chung’s maps of global dynamics.
1–4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, Manetti Shrem Museum
Full exhibition here
di Rosa San Francisco features Jim Melchert through January, reception Saturday
Jim Melchert: Where the Boundaries Are, Oct. 18-Jan. 3, 150 25th Street, San Francisco; Free and open to all.
Join di Rosa Saturday at the Opening Reception celebrating the landmark exhibition honoring the life and work of Jim Melchert (1932-2023). Melchert was a seminal figure in a community of California artists who elevated the field of ceramics to a contemporary art form in the 1960s. Along with his friends Pete Voulkos, Robert Arneson, Ruth Asawa, Joan Brown, Bruce Conner, Mildred Howard, Roy De Forest, and Bruce Nauman, he became a landmark figure in American art.
The exhibition, curated by Griff Williams, presents over 60 artworks spanning six decades of Melchert’s esteemed and influential career. Beginning with his involvement with the California Funk movement, groundbreaking 1970s performances and work in conceptual art, the exhibition also showcases many of the thrilling broken tile works that preoccupied the artist at the end of his long career.
At Mondavi Center
Allison Miller’ Boom Tic Boom/Studio Jazz
Thursday through Saturday, ; all performances 7:30 p.m.
Allison Miller’s drums are a hypnotic, driving force propelling her groundbreaking jazz ensemble Boom Tic Boom forward.
With deep roots in exploration via improvisation, Miller has been recognized as one of the “Top 20 Jazz Drummers” by DownBeat Magazine and is described by critics as a “Modern Jazz Icon in the Making.” Founded in 2008, the group has released five critically acclaimed albums, the most recent being Glitter Wolf, lauded by NPR for their cohesion, where all parts are said to “fit together like clockwork.” Featuring: Myra Melford – piano | Jenny Scheinman – violin, Ben Goldberg – clarinet and contra alto | Todd Sickafoose – bass.
Philharmonia Orchestra performs Friday
7:30 p.m., Jackson Hall, The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts,
The Philharmonia Orchestra has been one of the world’s great ensembles since its establishment in 1945.
It has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Laufey, and many others. Under the conductorship of Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Philharmonia Orchestra is joined by Icelandic pianist and recent Grammy winner Víkingur Ólafsson. They’ve prepared a program featuring works by Beethoven and Sibelius, complemented by a brand-new commission from Gabriela Ortiz.
Coming up:
Taproot New Music Festival: UC Davis Symphony Orchestra
“Fate and Reflection”
First event is Saturday, Oct. 25, 7–8 p.m., at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
Across Musical Space and Time Taproot New Music Festival Brings Artists Together
By Michael G. French
Eight participating composers working alongside exceptional artists will come together to produce and share new works with the community over six public concerts during the traditionally biennial Taproot New Music Festival. These composers will participate in seminars facilitated by UC Davis composition faculty and, over the course of the festival, develop their new compositions with the musicians who will premiere them. This 2025 festival is presented by the Department of Music and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis.
Sam Nichols, music professor and chair of the Department of Music at UC Davis says, “As musicians and composers our voices are in a constant state of evolution, thanks to both to our musical memory and the lasting connections we make with other artists. I’m thrilled that Taproot continues to facilitate these kinds of connections, many of which have become long lasting.”
The public events take place at the Ann E. Pitzer Center unless otherwise noted:
Saturday, Oct. 25 • 7 p.m. at the Mondavi Center
UC Davis Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, Nov. 6 • 12 p.m., free
This opening concert with both the Empyrean Ensemble and Ensemble Dal Niente
Thursday, Nov. 6 • 7:30 p.m. at Armadillo Music, free
Empyrean Ensemble’s Thalia Moore, solo cello, plays Raven Chacon’s Quiver for solo cello
Friday, Nov. 7 • 7:30 p.m.
Ensemble Dal Niente
Saturday, Nov. 8 • 7:30 p.m.
Ensemble Dal Niente
Sunday, Nov. 8 • 2 p.m., free
Empyrean Ensemble
Executive Director of the Mondavi Center, Jeremy Ganter, added, “One of the core values of the Mondavi Center’s mission is to be a ‘professional laboratory to train students in the performing arts’ and we are thrilled to present the musicians of Dal Niente and the work of these participating composers to our Davis community.”
Dal Niente, conducted by Michael Lewanski, is based in Chicago and is dedicated to growing relationships with artists, composers, and listeners — advancing distinct and challenging musical voices. Four composers will work with Dal Niente:
Eli Greenhoe; James Larkins; Emre Sener and Jenny Xiong
UC Davis Symphony Orchestra
Christian Baldini, director and conductor
Program
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor
Peter Chatterjee: When the alarm(s) stopped
Media Resources
Contact: Karen Nikos-Rose, Arts Blog Editor, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu
The UC Davis Arts Blog appears each Thursday in the form of a "weekender" full of activities on campus and throughout the region, and periodically throughout the week in the form of art features curated from throughout the campus and beyond. There is an Arts Blog newsletter published quarterly.
Karen covers arts, social sciences, the grad schools of business, law and education as well as a portion of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.