Around Berkeley: New Century Chamber Orchestra, writing circle for Black parents, mock trial

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Around Berkeley

🎻 The conductorless New Century Chamber Orchestra, led by violinist Daniel Hope, will reimagine the popular works of the baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi. On the program is British composer David Bruce’s Lully Loops and Max Richter’s “Vivaldi: Recomposed — The Four Seasons,” Thursday, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m. First Congregational Church. $35–$80 (RSVP)

🎬 Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, Berkeley’s last commercial movie house, is hosting a free screening of Robert Benton’s 1994 film “Nobody’s Fool,” in which a “stubborn man past his prime reflects on his life of strict independence and seeks more from himself.” Thursday, Nov. 7, 1 p.m. FREE

📚 Oakland poet Terry Tierney reads from his second book of poetry, Why Trees Stay Outside!, and joins Sophia Raday in conversation at an event co-presented by Litquake and Books Inc. Thursday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. Books Inc. FREE (reservations recommended)

🧑‍🎨 Berkeley author and artist John Harris will celebrate the launch of his new book “Portrait in Red: A Paris Obsession,” in which he goes on a quest to uncover a mysterious painting’s history and better understand art’s power to move. He’ll be joined in conversation by Marion Abbott, a co-owner of Mrs. Dalloway’s bookstore. Thursday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s. FREE (RSVP) 

🎶 Assembled by Senegalese-born Malian star Habib Koité, a charismatic guitarist, vocalist and griot who gained international fame with his band Bamada, the Mandé Sila project celebrates West Africa’s Manding legacy with Senegalese kora maestro Lamine Cissokho, Ivorian balafon master Aly Keïta, and Habib’s longtime percussionist, Mama Koné on djembe, calabash and electronic drum pad. Thursday-Friday, Nov. 7-8, 8 p.m. Freight & Salvage. $44-$49

🎭 UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies presents Everybody, a comedic reimagining of a medieval morality play by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins in which the protagonist “Everybody” (chosen at random from the cast for each performance) goes on a journey to meet “God” and make an accounting of their life. Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 7-10, Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley. $10–$20

🎹 A collaborative project featuring San Francisco composer/performers Nick Bacchetto and Ben Sabey, the Bacchetto/Sabey Duo performs a transcription of Messiaen’s “Feuillets inédits” (originally for piano and Ondes Martenot) and new spatial audio works like oceanic love letter “The Wine-dark Sea” for piano and interactive electronics with a custom modular analog synthesizer controlled by a MIDI Polyphonic Expression instrument. Friday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m. CNMAT, FREE (limited seating)

🎤 La Peña’s Empowering Women of Color Open Mic, presented in partnership with UC Berkeley’s Women of Color Initiative, features live music, spoken word, radical storytelling and more. Friday, Nov. 8, 8 p.m. La Peña Cultural Center. $5-$25 (RSVP)

🎹 One of the brightest lights to earn a degree at Berkeley’s California Jazz Conservatory, vibraphonist Dillon Vado makes his Jupiter debut with a commanding trio featuring bassist Jeff Denson and drummer Isaac Schwartz playing a funk-inflected repertoire fully engaged with his instruments. Saturday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m. Jupiter. FREE

🎸 Award-winning Berkeley guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Zoe FitzGerald Carter returns to The Back Room with a new band and a new album featuring songs inspired by memories of a pre-smart phone world, Before the Machine, woven from old-school threads of folk, country, rock, blues and jazz. She’s joined by Chris Pilon on lead guitar, drummer Dan Purtell, electric bassist Bob Adams and special guest Mark Schapiro on harmonica. Saturday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m. The Back Room. $18

👞 Berkeley Path Wanderers Association leader Tamara Gurin will lead a fast-paced and challenging hike from the Berkeley Rose Garden to Lone Oak Trailhead in Tilden Park. Bring layers, hiking poles, lunch and water. The hike is eight miles long and features a 1,400-foot elevation gain. Saturday, Nov. 9. 9 a.m. 1200 Euclid Avenue. FREE

🎶 The Berkeley Symphony, led by conductor Joseph Young, will perform a concert all about telling stories about home. It’ll kick off with Silvestre Revueltas’ Redes Suite, meant to transport you into the world of Mexican fishing communities, followed by Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, featuring soprano Lisa Delan. The Grammy-winning violinist Charles Yang will join the orchestra for the Bay Area premiere of Kris Bowers’ For a Younger Self. Finally, the orchestra will perform Leonard Bernstein’s beloved Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Sunday, Nov. 10, 4 p.m. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley. (RSVP)

 💃🏿 Working with her indefatigable accompanist, pianist Joe Warner, Berkeley blues and jazz vocalist Faye Carol presents the fourth annual Black Women’s Roots Festival at Freight & Salvage with a multigenerational program featuring Linda Tillery, Bobi Cespedes, Bishop Yvette Flunder, Miko Marks, Vicki Randle, Avotcja, All Black Women String Quartet, Carol herself, and Miss Faye’s Babies from her School of The Getdown. Sunday, Nov. 10, 4 p.m. Freight & Salvage. $49-$54

📚 The Holloway Poetry Series presents a reading by Douglas Kearney, whose 2023 collection of Bagley Wright lectures, Optic Subwoof, won the Poetry Foundation’s Pegasus Prize for Poetry Criticism and the CLMP Firecracker Award for Creative Nonfiction. Wednesday, Nov. 13, 5:30 p.m. 315 Wheeler Hall. FREE

🧑‍⚖️ Berkeley Law is staging excerpts from the sensational 1935 Lindbergh kidnapping trial, in which the skeleton of Charles Lindberg, Jr — the first-born son son of the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic nonstop — was was found less than five miles away from the Lindbergh Estate and defendant Bruno Hauptmann was found guilty and executed via electric chair. After the mock trial, the audience will “vote” on whether the murder case should be reopened. Wednesday, Nov. 13, 6 p.m. Room 100, Berkeley Law. FREE (RSVP)

✏️ Artist Milani Pelley will facilitate a writing circle for Berkeley’s Black parents, intended to be a safe space to share stories, connect with fellow parents and built community. There will be childcare, gift cards and food by Cali Alley. Writers of all experience levels are welcome. Thursday, Nov. 14, 5:30 p.m. Tarea Hall Pittman Library. FREE (RSVP)

🎭 The Marsh Berkeley will premiere Stephanie Weisman’s 180 Days. To Die. To Live, which it describes as a “compelling and deeply personal look at those facing imminent death and the living.” The play follows two people’s end-of-life journeys: a woman coping with the final months of her husband’s life and a friend who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Check the website for showtimes. Nov. 8 through 24.

Beyond Berkeley

📷 In honor of Native Heritage Month, OMCA is opening its latest exhibit, Born of the Bear Dance: Dugan Aguilar’s Photographs of Native California, featuring the work of renowned photographer, visual storyteller, historian, and documentarian Dugan Aguilar (Mountain Maidu/Pit River/Walker River Paiute). Aguilar documented Native life for over 40 years and passed away in 2018. In 2021, Aguilar’s family entrusted its archive of his life’s work to the Oakland Museum of California. Some archival images include portraits of Native war veterans, family gatherings, and landscapes. Nov. 8 through June 22, 2025. 1000 Oak Street, Oakland. $1–$25

🎤 The Griots of Oakland Volume II will showcase the work of ten Black male griots from McClymonds High School. The teens conducted over 80 interviews with Black males across Oakland to talk about their experiences. The result is a book with a collection of oral histories available on soft and hard cover for purchase on the day of the event. Attendees will also have the opportunity to hear from the teens and their interviewees through an immersive multimedia art exhibit featuring Black Terminus AR technology, where the portraits will come to life through the Terminus AR app. Friday, Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m. Bloc15, 252 2nd Street, Oakland. FREE (RSVP) 

🎤 Born in London, Daniel Dumile launched his career as Zev Love X in the 1980s, and by the late 1990s, he reenvisioned himself as masked rapper MF Doom — among other monikers — wearing the mask of Marvel supervillain Doctor Doom. The rapper died in 2020, leaving his music catalog and a mystery about his life. Journalist and author S.H. Fernando Jr. (aka SKIZ) went on a quest to interview MF Doom’s inner circle to work on the biography called The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap’s Masked Iconoclast. This weekend, the author will be in conversation with writer and editor David Ma about the book while also playing some of MF Doom’s music on vinyl. Sunday, Nov. 10, 3 p.m. Bar Shiru, 1611 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland. $11 (RSVP)

If there’s an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup, email us at [email protected]. If there’s an event that you’d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our events page.

The Oaklandside’s Arts and Community reporter Azucena Rasilla contributed to this list.