“For his first season at the artistic and executive helm of UC Berkeley’s Cal Performances, Jeremy Geffen, appointed by the multi-genre presenter last year, appears to be pulling out all the stops,” writes Nicholas Beard in Tuesday’s (4/28) Musical America (subscription required). “Geffen has Renée Fleming headlining ‘Music and the Mind,’ a new series of events and performances ‘exploring the transformative and therapeutic potential of music.’ … The Mark Morris Dance Group is also part of that series, teaching individuals inflicted with Parkinson’s disease…. The ‘Fact or Fiction’ [series] is even broader in its reach, collaborating with the school’s departments of law, journalism, and data sciences…. Disciplines explored range from music by Handel and Julia Wolfe to theater pieces based on works of Joan Didion…. Programming gets underway August 20 with Yo-Yo Ma and his crazy-quilt quartet, Not Our First Goat Rodeo. [Also] on Geffen’s first roster are … soprano Christine Goerke, mezzo Jamie Barton, violinist Tessa Lark; countertenors Bejun Mehta and Jakub Józef Orlinski; composer Nico Muhly.… Special events include the Vienna Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel [and] pianist Mitsuko Uchida … leading the Mahler Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard…. The season … also includes lectures and talks by the likes of Alex Ross.” Read more about the healing potential of music in Symphony magazine.
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