Ensemble: Robert Cole and Susan Muscarella are the power couple of Berkeley music. Cristina Taccone

The 2006 season celebrated 100 years of Cal Performances—a proud fulfillment of the promise in its 1906 inaugural performance by Sarah Bernhardt in Racine's Phèdre at the Greek Theatre. After the star-studded centenary celebration, Robert Cole announced he would step down as director at the end of the 2008–09 season. This season, for the last time, audiences will see Cole walk up and down the aisle before a new program or premiere, a slender man with the quiet, knowing smile of a magician who knows the spell that will be cast the moment the curtain goes up.

Under the 34-year direction of Betty Connors (whose service to the arts led to an award being named after her), by 1980 Cal Performances had grown from an arts committee into a nationally recognized program with an annual budget of $4 million for 45 yearly events. It is now one of today's top-ranking arts presenters, with a $14 million budget, 130 performances, and a full-time staff of 64. Every year, it brings to Berkeley world-renowned artists, from musicians Ravi Shankar and Yo-Yo Ma to the dance troupes of Merce Cunningham and Alvin Ailey, as well as folk artists, opera divas, performance artists, theater companies, and a host of stars both rising and established.

Since 1986, this artistic cornucopia has been refilled every year by one person, Robert Cole. His ambition has been not only to offer a range of performances for everyone's taste, but to help educate that taste, as well. Early on, he expanded Cal Performances's arts education for schools. At the provost's invitation, Cole extended his directorship to the Student Musical Activities program, sharing his expertise with the extracurricular music activities of the Cal Band, UC Jazz Ensemble, and UC Choral Ensembles. In 1990 Cole founded the Berkeley Festival and Exhibition of early music, and in 2003 he established the Berkeley Edge Fest for international new music.

In his passion for cultural education, Cole also has a knack for spotting nascent talent, and his willingness to take artistic risks has helped launch careers. He has commissioned new works that forged national and international alliances, allowing Cal Performances to produce events such as the yearly return of dancer and choreographer Mark Morris for his tongue-in-cheek version of the Nutcracker ballet, The Hard Nut. Small wonder ticket sales have grown tenfold since Cole took over.

I talked to Robert Cole about his 23 years with Cal Performances—his best and worst memories, and the future of the arts.

Renate Stendhal: What role did the University play in Cal Performances's success?

Robert Cole: What we have been able to do here was enhanced in particular by our good relationship with the Department of Music. It allowed us to do terrific projects, like the 17th-century "horse ballet" in 2000, with music professor Kate van Orden. A very big deal. And most recently a faculty member, Davitt Moroney, conducted the lost 16th-century mass "Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno," by Striggio. It was a huge success.

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