26-27

Energetic taiko drummers in red costumes performing with large drums on stage.

Yamato

The word performance can’t fully describe the experience that is Yamato. It’s “physical music” that’s been celebrated the world over.  This Japanese Taiko drumming group looms (and booms) large, with more than 40 Taiko drums on stage representing different characters. Yamato does more than simply make their Taiko drums explode; they produce delicate music that gives the listener a palette of meticulously crafted sound. At once intense, then sad and even comforting and comical, you’re more than a bystander when you experience Yamato.
Headshot portrait of Tommy Orange with short dark hair, neutral expression, wearing dark shirt.

In Conversation with Tommy Orange

MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Orange is the author of the bestselling novel There There, a multigenerational portrait of urban Native American life.  Centered on communities often overlooked, There There tells the story of lives shaped by profound spirituality as well as the ongoing realities of addiction, abuse, and loss. His newest book, Wandering Stars, continues this exploration in a powerful narrative of epigenetic and generational trauma.
Black-and-white photo on the left and right: smiling Marin Alsop on left and Radulović holding violin on the right

San Francisco Symphony

A stunning night of star-powered orchestral music.

Acclaimed conductor Marin Alsop leads the San Francisco Symphony in a cinematic piece written for her by John Adams and Shostakovich’s masterful Fifth Symphony. Serbian-French violinist Radulović will bring electric energy and expressive virtuosity to Barber’s lyrical, demanding violin concerto.

ProgramThe Rock You Stand On John AdamsViolin Concerto, op. 14 Samuel BarberSymphony No. 5 in D Minor, op. 47 Dmitri Shostakovich
Sona Jobarteh with a Kora stands in a dry landscape, above Saha Gnawa holding various instruments.

Sona Jobarteh & Saha Gnawa

Two visionary forces shaping the future of African diasporic music come together in two complementary sets for an evening that honors deep musical lineages while embracing a new global perspective. 

Sona Jobarteh, the first professional female kora virtuoso to emerge from a West African griot dynasty, carries this centuries-old tradition forward through luminous vocals and masterful musicianship. Preserving her ancestral inheritance, she forges a bold humanitarian path into the future. 

Rosanne Cash sits in front of John Leventhal on blue couch in guitar-filled studio

Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal

Blending country music with Americana, folk, rock and blues, Rosanne Cash has shaped American music for more than four decades.  One of the most ambitious and literary songwriters of her generation” (Rolling Stone), Cash is America’s foremost musical woman of letters, a literate and incisive artist whose poignant and distinctive vocals turn every song into a revelatory tale.
Graphic poster: three singers in festive sweaters holding mics with Pink Martini All-Stars logo

Pink Martini All-Stars

Thomas Lauderdale’s globe-trotting “little orchestra” Pink Martini is back with an all-new holiday show! 

Featuring three of the band’s favorite singers and long-time collaborators, Ari Shapiro, Edna Vazquez, and Jimmie Herrod, the Pink Martini All-Stars bring a festive program blending their beloved holiday classics with sparkling new additions. 

Four smiling string musicians in studio holding violins and a cello

Rosamunde String Quartet

The Rosamunde String Quartet is composed of musicians from some of the world’s leading orchestras.

Its members include Noah Bendix-Balgley, first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic; Shanshan Yao, principal violinist of the Kammerakademie Potsdam and former member of the New York Philharmonic; Teng Li, principal viola of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Nathan Vickery, cellist of the New York Philharmonic.

Split portraits: Gianandrea on dark backdrop; Ray Chen dark-haired man on red.

National Symphony Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra appears under the baton of critically acclaimed Music Director Gianandrea Noseda. 

Celebrated violinist Ray Chen returns to the Mondavi Center to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. The program is bookended by Carlos Simon’s vibrant tribute to the orchestra’s home city, Washington, D.C., and the euphoric lyricism and triumphant sweep of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. 

Tyler Lyson in denim holding a hammer superimposed over a t-rex silhouette, flaming meteors and the National Geographic Live logo

National Geographic Live: Death of the Dinosaurs

Join paleontologist and National Geographic Explorer Tyler Lyson for an extraordinary journey to the end of the age of dinosaurs. 

Traveling back 66 million years, Lyson traces the fall of iconic giants such as Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex, whose 180-million-year reign ended with a catastrophic asteroid impact. Follow the birds and mammals that survived the apocalypse and adapted to thrive, a story revealed in one of the most extraordinary fossil finds in recent memory. 

Lila Downs wears a flowing red outfit and poses near a large clay pot.

Lila Downs

Celebrate Día de los Muertos with Mondavi Center favorite, and one of Latin America’s most influential voices, Lila Downs.

Rooted in Oaxaca and shaped between Mexico and the United States, she weaves Mexican tradition with jazz, cumbia, folk, and contemporary rhythms. Her music is both celebration and purpose, turning each concert into a gathering where culture is honored, stories are reclaimed, and audiences are invited to feel, dance, and remember. 

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