Ojai North 2014 Schedule Announced

The schedule for the 2014 Ojai North (June 19-21) with Music Director Jeremy Denk schedule has been announced. Scheduled concerts include the Bay Area Premiere of The Classical Style, performances by Jeremy Denk, Brooklyn Rider, Timo Andres, and Storm Large. Now in its fourth year, the collaboration between the Ojai Music Festival and Cal Performances enables reprises of Ojai concerts in Berkeley and creates a joint force allowing artists to achieve more than possible by each institution separately.

View the 2014 Ojai North Schedule >>
Purchase tickets to Ojai North, June 19 – 21, 2014 >>

Read the complete press release below:

CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS THE FOURTH ANNUAL OJAI NORTH
Thursday-Saturday, June 19-21

Bay Area Premiere of The Classical Style,
a New Comic Opera by Jeremy Denk and Steven Stucky based on
Charles Rosen’s classic book 

Cal Performances debuts by Brooklyn Rider, Timo Andres, Storm Large, and
The Knights joining Denk to perform music by Beethoven, Feldman, Haydn,
Janáček, Ives, Ligeti, Mozart, Schubert, Weill, and more

 Ojai Music Festival to be held June 12-15 in Ojai Valley

BERKELEY, January 21, 2014—Cal Performances’ fourth annual Ojai North music festival opens Thursday, June 19 with the Bay Area premiere of the comic opera, The Classical Style, based on the eponymous award-winning book by the late pianist and scholar Charles Rosen, with a libretto by 2014 Ojai Music Director Jeremy Denk and music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky. Ojai North is Cal Performances presentation of the highlights of the Ojai Music Festival considered one of the finest celebrations of music and culture in the world; this is the fourth year of the partnership . The music continues in Berkeley at the end of every annual festival in Ojai Valley.

Five distinct concerts are on the program for Ojai North. Making their debuts at Cal Performances are artistic collaborators who share Denk’s musical passions and love of fun, including jazz pianist and composer Uri Caine, the trailblazing string quartet Brooklyn Rider, pianist/composer Timo Andres, vocalist Storm Large, and contemporary ensemble The Knights.

While music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Joseph Haydn will set the framework for The Classical Style, Ojai North features works by Leoš Janáček, Charles Ives, Morton Feldman, György Ligeti, Franz Schubert, and Kurt Weill  plus the work of the distinctive Palo Alto-born composer Timo Andres.

“It’s a thrill to welcome Jeremy Denk as Ojai’s Music Director. His multi-dimensional approach to a musical life—as a performer, teacher, writer, creator and thinker on music—makes him an ideal choice,” said Cal Performances’ Executive and Artistic Director Matías Tarnopolsky. “The programs he has crafted for Ojai and Berkeley bring together the perfect combination of the very old and the very new, of the ferocious and the contemplative, and of the expected and the surprising. That the center piece of Ojai North is two performances of Steven Stucky’s opera The Classical Style, based on a libretto that Jeremy wrote, is testament to his remarkable talents.”

Denk’s trademark vivacious intellect and love of the unexpected is also evident in Uri Caine’s ingenious rendering of Mahler; Timo Andres’s reimagining of Mozart’s “Coronation” Concerto; the music of Charles Ives; and Denk’s eclectic views on musical canons.

Cal Performances has produced an exclusive video with Denk talking about The Classical Style and other works coming to Berkeley.

A series of Discover, Engage! education and community events to compliment Ojai North programming is being planned and will be announced at a later date.

Each summer the Ojai Music Festival (June 12-15, 2014) and Ojai North (June 19-21, 2014), explore the musical interests of its Music Director, an annual position that is held for the first time this year by Jeremy Denk. This collaborative effort makes possible annual reprises of Ojai concerts in Berkeley, as well as co-commissions and co-productions. More than just a sharing of resources, Ojai North represents a joining of artistic ideals and aspirations and is Cal Performances own ‘reinvention’ of the Ojai Music Festival. The organizations shared legacies of artistic innovation and groundbreaking productions create a joint force that allows artists to achieve more than would be possible by each institution separately.

THE PROGRAM

Ojai North kicks off on Thursday, June 19 at 8:00 p.m. in Hertz Hall with the Bay Area premiere of The Classical Style, the first collaboration between Jeremy Denk and Steven Stucky – and the first opera project for both. The opera will be led by Robert Spano, conductor, pianist, composer, educator, and music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and of the Aspen Music Festival and School. The Knights, the New York-based orchestral collective, will serve as the ensemble for The Classical Style.

Denk describes the work as “An opera in which principles of music—harmony, structure—and the big three composers (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven), as well as several completely unnecessary characters, find themselves immersed or enmeshed or mired in an opera buffa. Scenes of Charles Rosen, declaiming some of the most eloquent passages from his masterwork, are interspersed with surreal riffs and thought experiments. Although this music is incredibly great, at times we have to acknowledge the often absurd degree to which we’ve subjected it to analysis. The opera buffa genre is simply a way of enjoying this absurdity, turning music inside out to reflect on itself, using one of the iconic masterpieces of analysis as a vehicle.”

The comic opera will debut at the Ojai Music Festival the week before coming to Berkeley; the work is co-commissioned by Ojai Music Festival, Cal Performances, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and Carnegie Hall.

The first half of the concert will feature Brooklyn Rider performing Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G minor, Op. 74, No. 3, “Rider”. This performance repeats on Friday, June 20 at 7:00 p.m.

On Friday at 10:00 p.m. vocalist Storm Large will perform an evening of cabaret songs that she will announce from the stage; the venue of the concert will be announced at a later date.

Ojai North continues on Saturday, June 21, beginning at 11:00 a.m. with jazz pianist and composer Uri Caine and the Uri Caine Ensemble performing Mahler Re-Imagined, works from his critically acclaimed CD, which features his innovative adaptations, transformations and improvisations of Mahler’s music. Since 1998, Caine and his group have toured Mahler: Re-Imagined extensively throughout the world. The concert begins with Jeremy Denk performing Leos Janáček’s On An Overgrown Path interwoven with short works by Franz Schubert.

At 3:00 p.m. Brooklyn-based composer Timo Andres’ reimagines Mozart’s “Coronation” Concerto, a performance described by Alex Ross of The New Yorker as “mesmerizing.”  In this work, while the orchestral parts and the treble piano line are as Mozart notated in his original manuscript (Mozart did not fill out most of the piano counterpoint and harmonies since he improvised performances himself), Andres has recomposed the remainder of the piano part in his own style as if he were improvising a performance today. The work is performed by Andres himself, accompanied by The Knights and conducted by Eric Jacobsen, one of its founders and its regular conductor. The Knights offers an eclectic program of Charles Ives’s Three Places in New England (1930 version); Morton Feldman’s Madame Press died last week at 90; and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Tierkreis–Leo 4, arranged by Caroline Shaw. Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins will be performed by the “sensational” (The New York Times) vocalist Storm Large and the Hudson Shad vocal quartet in English.

The Festival’s concluding concert at 8:00 p.m. features Ligeti’s Piano Études Books I and II, a specialty of Jeremy Denk’s. The second half of the concert includes Charles Ives’ Psalm 90 performed by the Ojai Festival singers and conducted by Kevin Fox, as well as Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Op. 80 performed by Denk, The Knights, and the Ojai Festival singers, conducted by Eric Jacobsen.

All concerts are in Hertz Hall.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for Ojai North Music Festival, Thursday-Saturday, June 19-21 in Hertz Hall range from $20.00-$68.00 and are subject to change. A festival pass with tickets to all the performances is available for $132.00. Single tickets will go on sale February 1, 2014. Tickets are available through the Cal Performances’ Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.  Half-price tickets are available for purchase by UC Berkeley students. UC faculty and staff, senior citizens, other students and UC Alumni Association members receive a $5.00 discount (Special Events excluded). For more information, call Cal Performances at (510) 642-9988, or visit www.calperformances.org.

Ojai North
June 19-21, 2014
Concert calendar

Thursday, June 19
8:00 p.m.
Hertz Hall
Bancroft Way at College Ave.
UC Berkeley campus

Ojai North
Jeremy Denk, Music Director

Program: Haydn: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 74, No. 3 “Rider”
Brooklyn Rider

Stucky/Denk: The Classical Style (Bay Area premiere; co-commissioned by the Ojai Music Festival, Cal Performances, Carnegie Hall, and the Aspen Music Festival and School)
The Knights
Robert Spano, conductor
Singers, TBA
Director, Mary Birnbaum

Tickets: $68.00 and are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.


Friday, June 20
7:00 p.m.
Hertz Hall
Bancroft Way at College Ave.
UC Berkeley campus

Ojai North
Jeremy Denk, Music Director

Program: Haydn: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 74, No. 3 “Rider”
Brooklyn Rider

Stucky/Denk: The Classical Style (Bay Area premiere; co-commissioned by the Ojai Music Festival, Cal Performances, Carnegie Hall, and the Aspen Music Festival and School)
The Knights
Robert Spano, conductor
Singers, TBA
Director, Mary Birnbaum

Tickets: $68.00 and are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

Friday, June 20

10:00 p.m.
Venue to be announced
UC Berkeley Campus

Ojai North
Jeremy Denk, Music Director

Storm Large, vocalist
Program: Cabaret songs with vocalist Storm Large; songs to be announced from the stage.

Tickets: This event is free to festival pass holders; $10.00 for the general public. Prices are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and


 

Saturday, June 21

11:00 a.m.
Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley
Bancroft Way at College Ave.

UC Berkeley campus

Ojai North
Jeremy Denk, Music Director

Program: Uri Caine and Uri Caine Ensemble performing Mahler Re-Imagined; Jeremy Denk performing Leos Janáček’s On An Overgrown Path with short works by Franz Schubert

Tickets: $28.00 and are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

Saturday, June 21
3:00 p.m.
Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley
Bancroft Way at College Ave.
UC Berkeley campus

Ojai North
Jeremy Denk, Music Director

Program: Timo Andres’ take on Mozart’s “Coronation” Concerto with The Knights conducted by Eric Jacobsen; Charles Ives’s Three Places in New England (1930 version); Morton Feldman’s Madame Press died last week at 90; Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Tierkreis – Leo 4; Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with vocalist Storm Large and the Hudson Shad vocal quartet.

Tickets: $40.00 and are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

Saturday, June 21

8:00 p.m.

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley
Bancroft Way at College Ave.
UC Berkeley campus

Ojai North
Jeremy Denk, music director

Program: Ligeti’s Piano Études Books I and II with Jeremy Denk; Charles Ives’ Psalm 90 with the Ojai Festival singers, conducted by Kevin Fox; and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Op. 80 with Denk, The Knights, and the Ojai Festival singers, conducted by Eric Jacobsen.

Tickets: $40.00 and are subject to change, and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall; at (510) 642-9988 to charge by phone; at www.calperformances.org; and at the door.

Programming is subject to change

 

 

 

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