Halloween and Día De Los Muertos weekend at UC Davis offer events at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and Pitzer Center on the UC Davis campus and TANA in Woodland. Catch all of them. Most events are free.
Celebrate Día de los Muertos at Mondavi Center lobby this week
Celebrate Día de Los Muertos by paying tribute to a loved one or just view and take a moment for yourself at the ofrenda, or altar, at Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
In what has become an annual tradition, visitors to the lobby 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Oct. 31 (and performance attenders over the weekend) can enjoy the colorful altar. This year, they are working with ofrenda builder Melissa Moreno, a Davis resident, and Terezita Romo with La Raza Galeria Posada. Campus and community members may add photos or notes to the ofrenda to honor their own departed loved ones when the lobby is open, according to Ruth Rosenberg, director of Arts Education and Artist Engagement at the Mondavi Center.
Halloween and the Harpsicord
Faythe Vollrath, harpsichord, a Shinkoskey Noon Concert, Thursday, Oct. 30, 12:05–1 p.m., Pitzer Center
This program offers a vivid journey through the flourishing sound world of early Baroque Italy, a time when keyboard instruments were at the heart of musical invention. The harpsichord — an instrument of both intimacy and brilliance — served as a vehicle for improvisatory toccatas, virtuosic dances, ornate vocal transcriptions, and whimsical character pieces that delighted courts and salons alike. Featuring composers Alessandro Scarlatti, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Francesca Caccini, and Bernado Pasquini.
TANA’s Annual Día de Muertos celebration is Saturday
Saturday, Nov. 1, 4–7 p.m. | TANA
Join the TANA community for their annual Día de Muertos Celebration, a vibrant gathering honoring the memory of ancestors and loved ones. This year’s celebration will feature communal ofrendas in the main gallery, a danzante blessing and performance, and lively danza and mariachi performances. Families are invited to take part in Día de Muertos-themed crafts, including hands-on ink block printing and festive face painting for all ages. Throughout the evening, you can also watch live silkscreen printing by TANA participants, interns, and local artists, and enjoy a special exhibit of themed artwork by Woodland High School students.
A highlight of the evening will be the sale of a limited-edition print, “Nostalgic Flight,” signed by artist Stan Padilla and produced through TANA’s Special Editions Program. This edition of 60 is available for $250, with proceeds supporting the Royal Chicano Air Force’s annual Día de Muertos observance at St. Mary’s Cemetery, La Raza Galeria Posada, and TANA’s community programming.
Las Cafeteras performance intertwines themes of life, death
Mondavi Center for the performing arts, Saturday, Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m.
Prepare to be captivated by Hasta La Muerte, a spellbinding performance that intertwines the themes of life and death, inspired by the Indigenous and Mexican traditions of Día de los Muertos.
From the creative minds of Mondavi Center favorites Las Cafeteras, this production breathes new life into Mexican folklore. It shares fresh stories, reinterprets archetypes, challenges patriarchal norms, and elevates the role of curanderas, herbal medicine healers.
With mesmerizing choreography, poetry, and a score of original and traditional songs, Hasta La Muerte is a celebration of color, sound, and memory. It’s a show that beckons audiences to remember that while we honor those who have departed, “death is not the end; it is just the beginning.”
Make something at the Manetti Shrem Museum: Art Spark + Specimens
Saturday, Nov. 1, 1 to 4 p.m., Carole and Gerry Park Art Studio, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Carol and Gerry Parker Art Studio, Old Davis Road
Carole and Gerry Park Art Studio, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Carol and Gerry Parker Art Studio, Old Davis Road
In the final Art Spark +, a unique UC Davis mashup of science and art, for 2025.
Learn how the Center for Plant Diversity preserves specimens for its Herbarium — a reference library of pressed, dried plants, mosses, lichens and algae that serve as reference tools for identification and future research needs.
Faure Requium performed in Sacramento
Enjoy music through documentary film
Sunday, Nov. 2, 2 to 3:15 p.m., Pitzer Center, UC Davis
Fauré Requiem - John Rutter to be performed in Sacramento
Itzhak Perlman performs at Mondavi
Sunday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Itzhak Perlman, “indisputably one of the great violinists” (The Guardian), brings his foot-stomping, heartbeat-raising collection of Klezmer music to the Mondavi Center with In the Fiddler’s House.
This live presentation of Perlman’s Emmy Award-winning PBS special, Great Performances: In the Fiddler’s House, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Joined onstage by some of today’s brightest klezmer stars, including Hankus Netsky, Andy Statman, and members of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, this special performance promises to be an unforgettable experience that will leave you dancing in the aisles.
Next month
Campus Community Book Project at the Manetti Shrem Museum combines art and lived experiences
Crossing Paths: Art and Memoir in Conversation, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, 4:30-6 p.m., Manetti Shrem Museum of Art
Native Arts Market is Nov. 9
Art Spark each weekend, all month: Botanical Monoprints
Media Resources
Catch all Ongoing Art Exhibitions at UC Davis Museums in this story.
Arts Blog contact: Karen Nikos-Rose, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu