Wrestling Strange Beasts with Composer Xavier Muzik
A world premiere comes to San Francisco Symphony, a beloved actor takes the stage at Berkeley Rep, and CO-LLAB Choir honors the arts of the Black community.
The world of composition often attracts a certain kind of person fascinated by the expressive possibilities of music but impatient with the daily grind of practicing an instrument. Though nearly all composers have some background playing an instrument, it’s a fundamentally different kind of creativity—creating a piece from the blank page, versus interpreting and performing something that already exists. Xavier Muzik, winner of the 2023 Michael Morgan Prize from the Emerging Black Composers Project, played tuba in his Albuquerque middle school in the late 2000s while teaching himself piano. But more than just performing, he was interested in the big picture: “I was really curious about the music we were playing, how it was structured, what made the moments I felt super excited about click in mind.” These are important questions for any musician, but only a composer takes the next step—“I wanted to deeply explore that and recreate those moments.”
Muzik, 29, went on to study at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita and at the Mannes School of Music in New York. As an undergraduate in 2016, he wrote a string quartet that was premiered by the Formalist Quartet in one of his first public performances. “I remember it being terrifying,” he said. “I was shaking the entire time, but looking back on it in hindsight, I feel good about what it was.”
Premieres can be nerve-wracking for any composer—sitting in a darkened hall, shoulder-to-shoulder with an audience taking in something you created. But anxiety has been an especially prominent part of Muzik’s life, something he addresses head-on in his San Francisco Symphony commission, Strange Beasts.
On the Stage
This week, Hugh Bonneville takes the stage in Berkeley, a world premiere is presented at SF Symphony, a savior stars in a musical, and more.
Uncle Vanya
Theatre | Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Now – March 23 | Tickets
When the distinguished elderly proprietor of a rural estate returns with a new, young wife, chaos erupts. Tensions run high, marriages reach their limits, confessions — and vodka — flow freely, and weapons are drawn.
More Events
- Esa-Pekka Salonen & Daniil Trifonov | San Francisco Symphony | Now – February 23 | View the Program
- Jesus Christ Superstar | Berkeley Playhouse | Now – March 30
- Batsheva Dance Company | Cal Performances | February 22–23
- Ain’t Too Proud | BroadwaySF | February 25 – March 2
Next Line
Get your tickets now to the performance of a lifetime and join a musical celebration of Black art and community at Berkeley Rep.
- SF Symphony has announced that Paul Simon will take the stage at Davies Symphony Hall from July 19–22, 2025, for a special solo performance featuring the live debut of his Grammy-nominated album Seven Psalms alongside new arrangements of classic songs. This intimate concert, A Quiet Celebration, showcases Simon’s continued evolution as an artist in a setting designed for pristine acoustics. Tickets go on sale today.
- In honor of Black History Month, Oakland-based CO-LLAB Choir will present a special preshow performance celebrating healing, love, and unity through music at Berkeley Rep on February 23. Led by director Cava Menzies, this free event offers an uplifting tribute to the power of Black art and community. The preshow is open to the public, with separate tickets required for the evening’s performances of The Thing About Jellyfish and Uncle Vanya.
