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Dawn Upshaw named Music Director
for 2011 Ojai Music Festival

2011 collaborators will include Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra; Maria Schneider and the Maria Schneider Orchestra; and Peter Sellars

Ojai North! a multi-year residency project with Cal Performances Berkeley
will launch in Berkeley following the 2011 Festival in Ojai

May 4, 2010 – Ojai, California -- As the Ojai Music Festival gears-up for next month’s 2010 Festival (June 10 – 13) with Music Director George Benjamin, initial plans for the 65th Ojai Festival (June 9 – 12, 2011) are announced, including the appointment of soprano and Ojai alumna Dawn Upshaw as Music Director. Marking her fourth appearance in Ojai, four-time Grammy Award winner Dawn Upshaw has achieved international acclaim on opera and concert stages worldwide.  In recent years, she has become a champion of new music, and has been recognized with the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" for her involvement with some of today's most renowned composers.  Together with Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris, Upshaw has engaged several key collaborators with whom she has created new works: Richard Tognetti, violinist, arranger, and leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra; Maria Schneider, jazz composer and big band leader; and Peter Sellars, stage director and Upshaw's most frequent collaborator in works from Handel and Stravinsky, to Adams and Golijov. The 2011 Festival will feature a commissioned work by Schneider for Upshaw and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and a new production by Sellars with Upshaw as soprano/soloist. Additional programming details for the 2011 Ojai Music Festival will be announced in the fall.

A new multi-year residency project in partnership with Cal Performances in Berkeley, Ojai North!, will be launched following the 2011 Ojai Music Festival. From June 13-15, 2011 Ojai Music Festival programs and artists will be in residence on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley marking the first of a multi-year partnership. The partnership will include annual performances of Ojai concerts in Berkeley, as well as joint commissions and co-productions. The Maria Schneider commission will be the first of such joint commissions, and the Peter Sellars production shall be the first such co-production. With Ojai North!, signature Ojai Music Festival programming will become available through live performances to audiences, expanding the Festival’s reach beyond Ojai. Additional information on Ojai North! can be found at OjaiFestival.org and CalPerformances.org.

Set among majestic oak trees in the center of Ojai, the Libbey Bowl has been the heart of Ojai’s community and cultural events for over 50 years, and home for the Ojai Music Festival. Throughout the years, the Festival has welcomed some of the 20th century’s most notable musical luminaries to the Libbey Bowl stage. The 65th season, June 9-12, 2011, will also mark the opening of the new Libbey Bowl. After this year’s 64th season, the Bowl will begin re-construction immediately with major improvements to the venue including re-grading of the Bowl, improved sight lines, and upgraded facilities for artists while keeping the same intimate ambience of the current Bowl.

Now in its sixth decade, the Ojai Music Festival continues its unmatched musical legacy and international reputation for artistic excellence, adventurous programs, and creative artistic camaraderie. Each year, the Festival welcomes a new music director who creates his/her own artistic programming with an emphasis on contemporary music. The 2010 Festival features British composer/conductor Director George Benjamin. All concerts take place at the outdoor Libbey Bowl, on a site held sacred by the Chumash Indians, where inspiration and creativity still flourish. From its founding in 1947, a healthy spirit of eclecticism and musical daring flourished, and the Ojai Music Festival remains a world champion of contemporary programming that is enchanting and challenging. With the1954 appointment of Lawrence Morton as artistic director, Ojai embraced an enduring concept whereby the artistic director engages a different music director each year, around whose musical ideas that year’s Festival is built. Among the Festival’s diverse music directors have been such renowned musical personalities as John Adams, Pierre Boulez, Aaron Copland, Ingolf Dahl, Peter Maxwell Davies, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, Oliver Knussen, Kent Nagano, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mitsuko Uchida, Robert Spano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, David Robertson, and eighth blackbird. Considered a highlight of the summer classical music season, the Ojai Music Festival is a four-day series of concerts, symposia, and auxiliary events set in the idyllic Ojai Valley, known as California’s Shangri-la.

Single tickets for the 2010 Ojai Music Festival (June 10-13) range from $35 to $100 for reserved seating; lawn seats are $15. (Tickets increase the week of the Festival.) Series tickets are also available and range from $150 to $309 for a full series and $125 to $255 for a mini series. Ojai concerts take place at the Libbey Bowl at East Ojai Avenue in downtown Ojai.

Tickets for the Festival Symposium on June 10 in Matilija Auditorium at Matilija Junior High School are $15 in advance or $20 the day of the event. The Symposium on June 12 is $35 in advance and $40 day of the event. Matilija Junior High School is located at 703 El Paseo Road.

Directions to Ojai, as well as information about lodging, concierge services for visitors, and other Ojai activities, are also available on the Ojai Web site.

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