Upcoming events

  • Donato Cabrera, California Symphony's Conductor and Artistic Director

    • Tuesday, December 02, 2025
    • 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
    • Gateway Fireside Room
    Register

     Donato Cabrera, Conductor and 
    Artistic Director of the California Symphony

    What does a Conductor do?

    Get ready for a treat! Mexican American conductor Donato Cabrera, Artistic Director of California Symphony, is renowned for adventurous programming, championing living composers, and dynamic community engagement. And he is coming to Rossmoor’s History & Culture Club on December 2, 2025! A leading advocate for living composers and digital innovation, he is keenly focused on outreach, engagement, and programming that reflects the communities he is serving. Don’t miss this dynamic presentation!

    Maestro Cabrera served as the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and  the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016. Cabrera is one of only a handful of conductors in history who has conducted performances with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, and the San Francisco Ballet. 

    Since Donato Cabrera's 2013 appointment as Music Director of the California Symphony, the organization has redefined what it means to be an orchestra in the 21st Century. In 2017, the California Symphony became the first orchestra in the country to make a public commitment to diversity. The statement underscores the orchestra’s commitment to creating an equitable, diverse, and inclusive artistic space and work environment both on and off stage. Furthermore, the California Symphony was one of the first orchestras to provide a bilingual Spanish and English website, allowing underrepresented segments of the Bay Area community to interact and engage with the orchestra.

    The California Symphony's concerts are regularly broadcast on KUSC in Los Angeles, KDFC in San Francisco, and across the country via the WFMT Radio Network, through the orchestra's radio series. 

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  • SPEAKER: Sam Sperry, Train Service Explorer & Historian

    • Tuesday, January 06, 2026
    • 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
    • Fireside Room
    Register


    SPEAKER: Sam Sperry, Train Service
    Explorer & Historian

    Ride the rails with HCC’s 2026 Speaker Series 2026 launch. Join Sam Sperry aboard 44 years of NorCal train service in our sparsely settled and not-yet-incorporated East Bay. Sperry, a retired attorney and train buff, might even appear in an authentic conductor’s uniform. He shares a vivid journey from California to Illinois with local stops in Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Moraga and St. Mary’s College Station.

    Long a fixture in the Lamorinda Community, Sam and Susan Sperry were Moraga’s 2018 Citizens of the Year. Susan’s father bought 80 acres of undeveloped land in the year Susan was born - before Moraga was incorporated. The Sperry family still lives and works on the Frazell ranch. During Susan’s childhood the train would run from Oakland through Canyon, past the college and would stop near Lafayette’s Town Hall where the area community met. Sam and Susan have brought local history to life by founding the Moraga Historical Society.

    Sam invites you to make tracks with him and HCC.


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  • SPEAKER: Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino, Ohlone Cultural Diplomats

    • Tuesday, March 03, 2026
    • 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
    • Fireside Room
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    SPEAKER: Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino,

    Ohlone Cultural Diplomats

    Mr. Vincent Medina and Mr. Louis Trevino are Ohlone people dedicated to sustaining the traditional Ohlone culture that flourished in this region for thousands of years. Deeply proud of their Indigenous identities, they are leaders in revitalizing the Ohlone languages.

    They founded mak-‘amham/Café Ohlone, a cultural institution and restaurant that educates Ohlone and non-Ohlone people about Ohlone culture.

    As Rossmoor stands on ancestral Ohlone land—historically known as Saklan— Mr. Medina and Mr. Trevino are pleased to share their heritage with the Rossmoor community. Guided by the wisdom of their elders, they carry forward the vital work of nurturing and expanding Ohlone culture for future generations.


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  • SPEAKER: Tracey Panek, Historian & Director of Archives, Levis Strauss & Co.

    • Tuesday, April 07, 2026
    • 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
    • Fireside Room
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    SPEAKER: Tracey Panek,
    Historian & Director of Archives, 
    Levis Strauss & Co., 

    Be captivated by the history of the blues - or “How does a heritage company, nearly 175 years old, still retain its youthfulness”. Hear about the birth of the modern blue jean, how Levis Strauss stays rooted in its legacy branding, learn the importance of stories, and discover how Levi Strauss connects with culture to stay forever young. 

    Tracey Panek, Historian & Director of Archives at world headquarters in San Francisco manages the day-to-day workings of the LS&C Archives as a key corporate asset, answering historical questions, assisting designers, brand managers, executives and other employees whose work requires historical materials in the Archives. She regularly hunts for unique vintage Levi’s® garments and unusual Levi’s® items to add to the Archives


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  • SPEAKER: Alka Joshi, International Best Selling Novelist

    • Tuesday, September 01, 2026
    • 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
    • Fireside Room
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    SPEAKER: Alka Joshi, International
    Best Selling Novelist

    Alka Joshi weaves stories of India with traditional life, the arts and the power of travel and fragrance to seduce, tease and entice - as do her characters. They face the pivoting culture of 1950s India and Europe while the British live in the shadows of change and their strained awareness. Tales of valiant strength, and characters that become friends, deliver a glimpse of India’s magic.

    The Henna Artist was devoured by many book clubs including Reese Witherspoon’s. It has been translated into more than 20 languages and is being made into a Netflix series starring Freida Pinto. Readers have avidly consumed Joshi’s subsequent books.

    Alka Joshi received a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from the California College of the Arts. A former advertising copywriter and marketing consultant, Alka was born in the Indian state of Rajasthan and came to the US as a child. She breathes life into her characters from the Monterey peninsula.

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  • SPEAKER: Joe Lurie, Director Emeritus, International House, UC Berkeley

    • Tuesday, December 01, 2026
    • 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
    • Fireside Room
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    SPEAKER: Joe Lurie, Director Emeritus,
    International House, UC Berkeley
    “International House and the Little Known, Groundbreaking Origins of Desegregation in Berkeley and Beyond”


    Why not choose Piedmont Avenue in Berkeley to “strike bigotry and exclusiveness right hard in the nose”? With a vacant Spanish-Moorish building and a concentration of fraternities and sororities already there, why not try to change the world with some students from various countries and have them live together? Joe Lurie did. For 20 years. He upheld a tradition started in 1924 by Harry Edmonds in NYC with funding from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1924 - and then in Berkeley in 1930. The start of something big?

    Author and activist Joe Lurie has spent most of his adult life fostering cultural understanding. A celebrated author of such works as ‘Perception and Deception: A Mind-Opening Journey Across Cultures’. Since his retirement from Cal, Lurie has been a teacher, intercultural trainer and consultant. In 2106 he published a book drawing together all he had learned about understanding – and misunderstanding – one another.   

    Former residents of I-House and clients read like a Who’s-Who of the world. A prior Peace Corps volunteer, Joe has directed programs in many countries and chaired a range of study abroad and international educator organizations. His writings have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, U.S. News & World Report. He was featured in a PBS documentary and on NPR.

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