The Festival wishes John Luther Adams a very happy birthday! John’s music has become something of a ‘regular’ at the Festival, first in 2009 with a performance of Dark Waves by Lisa Kaplan and Jeremy Denk, and then in 2012 with the West Coast premiere of his immense Inuksuit in Libbey Park. He made it to Ojai in 2013 with Music Director Mark Morris, with his works (Strange and Sacred Noise and songbirdsongs) being the focal point of the Festival’s two sunrise concerts and the Saturday evening concert (For Lou Harrison) in Libbey Bowl.
While John was at the Festival last year, he also took part in a sold-out Ojai Talk, where he spoke about his musical influences and inspiration, and his friendship with composer Lou Harrison, among other topics. In this clip from the talk, John discusses the genesis of songbirdsongs with Ara Guzelimian:
John also spoke about one of the defining moments of his life – and his musical development – moving to Alaska:
After the Festival, 2013 continued to be a momentous year for John, with the recent, groundbreaking recording of Inuksuit receiving wide acclaim and being named to NPR Classical’s 10 Favorite Albums Of 2013. We look forward to even greater things in the upcoming year and wish John the best on his birthday. We hope we’ll have the chance to see him in Ojai again soon!
View the complete Ojai Talk with John Luther Adams on our YouTube Channel >>