View The Updated 2014 Festival Schedule

Jeremy Denk 2 - Credit Michael Wilson

The updated 2014 Festival schedule is now available. Click the link below to view the complete schedule of events, program details, and more!
View schedule >>Purchase Festival passes >>

 

“Finding Feldman” – Guest Blog by Max Mandel of The Knights

Morton_Feldman_1976“I feel that the moment, the rightness of the moment, even though it might not make sense in terms of its cause and effect, is very important.” -M.F.

By Max Mandel, violist in The Knights 

I find it difficult to talk about Morton Feldman. I’m in awe of his output. I find his music to be exquisitely beautiful and intellectually challenging, a combination very few composers achieve. I often find myself saying to my colleagues, “Yup, another great piece by Feldman.” You start thinking about him and he becomes larger and larger in your mind and at a certain point he becomes too big to deal with. It’s well-known how huge he was. 6 feet, almost 300 pounds. The thick mop of greasy black hair, the coke bottle glasses. The massive appetite, intellectual and sensual, hungry for life. The endless words, the words that poured out of him, the constant conversations with everyone (although he admitted to an interviewer once, “The problem now is that all these things are evasive subterfuges from sitting down and writing that piece of music.”).

He was engaged in a lifelong debate with the musical giants of his time: Boulez, Cage, Stockhausen. After you’re captured by his music, the legend of the man becomes almost even more captivating. For me there is a ghoulish danger there. A strange thing about living in New York City is this continual pull of the legends and the ghosts that live here. I was standing at the corner of 72nd and Central Park West when some tourists haltingly inquired, “Excuse…could you please show where the Beatle was…” they trailed off in embarrassment and yeah, they should be embarrassed, a human being was murdered right there. I shook my fist at them after pointing them in the right direction because I recognized myself in their faces.

“Our Ears Are Open Now” – Guest Blog by Colin Jacobsen

Brooklyn Rider

nothing is accomplished by writing a piece of music
nothing is accomplished by hearing a piece of music
nothing is accomplished by playing a piece of music
our ears are now in excellent condition.

So said the ever-provocative John Cage. I suppose this statement could be read as a kind of nihilism, but I see it as Cage prodding the whole musical triangle (composer, performer, listener) to remember to strip oneself of preconceptions as much as possible and allow a sense of wonder back in so that there can be the possibility of Magical Musical Moments (which I will take to calling MMM… onomatopoeia-style. For the record, that is the sound that I’ve witnessed many a Persian and Indian musician emit in the moment when another musician makes a beautiful or telling musical phrase or gesture. Not advocating for that necessarily in a Mozart Symphony, but then again, why not? But I digress…) And I sense that I’m speaking to the choir when talking to Ojai Music Festival fans. I haven’t experienced the Festival before, but have heard from all accounts (including my wife, Maile Okamura who as a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group, was there performing last year) that people come ready to really, really listen and live the experience. Still, at every point along the way it’s useful to reexamine the intention one is putting into the activity at hand and realize the potential to be ever more present, on all sides of that triangle.

Hmm, so I’d like to examine from the composer/performer’s side some aspects that are necessary for MMM to happen through the lens of some of the music we’ll be playing in Ojai. I see part of that job as allowing the audience its own space in the music, meaning that it’s an open dialogue, and though the composer/performer should have a point of view and the courage of one’s convictions, there needs to be space for the listener to have their own experience inside the music. So let me know when you see me (or feel free to write a response to this) what you think the listener’s responsibility is in greater detail. In the meantime, some thoughts on composers/performers…

Preview Festival Music With Our Playlists

OMF 2011 BowlWith the Festival quickly approaching, now is the perfect time to listen up on some of the programming for this June. You can listen to recordings of some of the works to be performed this year using our Spotify playlists.

Preview 2014 Festival music here >>

Q&A with Festival Executive Director, Janneke Straub

Janneke_Straub_small 1Executive Director Janneke Straub joined the Festival in January 2014. She sat down to share a bit about herself and her vision for the Festival’s upcoming years.

You have an interesting background…tell us a bit about yourself:
I grew up in France, living in Nice and Paris, going to all kinds of festivals – my parents are mostly into new music and baroque music (not orchestral music and opera). They also love modern sculptures, contemporary architecture, and medieval art. They still travel to nurture these passions. In Nice, I lived next to the Matisse Museum, the arenas, and the world-class Nice Jazz Festival. During this one week festival, bands performed on three different stages and changed every hour from 5:30pm to 10:30pm. Guest artists included both the most famous and the up-and-coming like Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and Stephane Grappelli.

And you became involved with music festivals from an early age?
While in middle and high school, my parents encouraged me to attend summer academies in the most beautiful festival settings. My favorite was the Pablo Casals Festival nestled in a small village, Prades in the Pyrenees, near the Spanish border, where cellist Pablo Casals lived during Franco’s regime. Casals interrupted his international career, left his beloved country and refused to perform in protest. His musician friends and fans finally convinced him to celebrate the bicentennial of Johann Sebastian Bach with them in 1950 after 12 years of silence. That’s how this chamber music festival started.

As a young student at the International Pablo Casals Academy, I would practice, and play chamber music, then get all dressed up and go to the concerts in the late afternoon and evening. Most of the concerts took place in the parish church and in the Abbey of Saint Michel de Cuixa with its pink marble cloister built in the 11th century. The three monks who lived in this reclusive sanctuary kept an eye on us (no tank tops, shorts, etc).

After I left Nice to pursue my studies at the University in Paris, I needed a summer job and the Artistic Director of the festival, Michel Lethiec, invited me back to work in production. I returned to work at the festival every August for seven consecutive years, until I moved to the United States in 1996.

What I love most about festivals is that you put your everyday life aside, and the focus is 100% on music. Beautiful settings have a major effect on us. You feel completely open and focused on the present and what you are about to experience.

What was your first job in the US?
I worked for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at a time when the organization completely re-invented itself and became a model orchestra for the 21st century.  I learned about fund development during the capital campaign [to build Walt Disney Concert Hall], the opening celebrations, and the first five  years in Disney Hall, when Esa-Pekka Salonen was Music Director. Frank Gehry’s vision was to build a living room for the city. No one on staff, other than [President] Deborah Borda, had opened a new hall before. From one year to the next, the LA Philharmonic Association doubled the number of concerts that it presented from approximately 80 in 2002 to 150 in 2003.  What I experienced during those 13 years was so unique: we, the staff, had this extraordinary chance to stretch our minds and work as a team to make this transformation happen.

What was your next big career move?
In October 2008, I left the LA Philharmonic to become the Executive Director of the American Youth Symphony, which is a training ground for exceptionally talented college level musicians. Access to this 105-member orchestra is based on merit only. There is no tuition, no fees to audition; only vibrant music making. The challenge was to turn this traditional orchestra into the powerful and trend-setting organization that it is today.

And now you’re in Ojai at the Festival! What are you most excited about?
I am excited to work with Artistic Director Tom Morris. We share this desire to reinvent the Festival, and ourselves, every year – a love of exploration and new ground. Our work is about creating a stimulating environment for the audience and for world-class artists. It’s about engaging a community into the process of creation.

I’d like to work closely with the Ojai community to make sure the work we do impacts the community in a stronger way. In my mind, this Festival is flourishing because it is rooted here, in a beautiful community and a spectacular natural setting.

I’d like every aspect of the Festival to be cutting-edge; the experiences you gather in Ojai are exceptional, ear-opening, inspiring, and fun. I’d like our guests to feel the way you feel when you visit an exhibition and discover something new and completely unexpected that opens the door to a new world to explore.

Did you ever think that you’d be running your own Festival?
When I was about 22 years old, I had a dream and thought: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I ran my own festival, one-day?“ And here I am!

You can contact Janneke at 805 646 2094 or [email protected] .

 

3 Minutes With 2014 Music Director Jeremy Denk

Our Ojai North partner, Cal Performances, has produced “3 Minutes With Jeremy Denk” – watch Jeremy preview 2014 highlights, explain The Classical Style…and give a brief music lesson on Bach:

View the 2014 Ojai Music Festival Schedule >>
View the 2014 Ojai North Schedule >>

Purchase tickets to the 2014 Ojai Music Festival >>
Purchase tickets to the 2014 Ojai North >>

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

 

 

 

Future Music Directors In Ojai – A Trip Down Memory Lane

The Festival recently announced upcoming Music Directors for the next three years – Steven Schick, Peter Sellars, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Despite their different backgrounds and wide interests, the three share a common, strong bond with southern California, as well as a history of past Festival appearances. Explore some recent – and not so recent – photos of Steve, Peter, and Esa-Pekka out of our archives in the slideshow below.

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View 2013 Ojai Talks Videos – Mark Morris, John Luther Adams, And More…

The 2013 Ojai Talks took place on June 6th and 7th at the Ojai Community Church. In three sessions, Music Director Mark Morris, composer John Luther Adams, filmmaker Eva Soltes, and LA Times classical music critic Mark Swed, sat with Ara Guzelimian to discuss their work and influences in wide-ranging discussions before a sold-out audience. If you missed the Talks – or want to relive your favorite moments – all are archived on our YouTube page >>

Or watch using the player below:

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American Public Media’s ‘Performance Today’ Returns For A Second Residency

June 10 OMF Breakfast 8 - Lauren Eales resize

The Ojai Music Festival is pleased to announce that American Public Media’s popular radio program Performance Today will return to Ojai in June for a second residency with the Festival. Performance Today and its host Fred Child was seen at the 2012 Festival with Music Director Leif Ove Andsnes. At the Festival, Fred hosted a Concert Insights session, conducted artists and patron interviews, and recorded performances for rebroadcast throughout the year.

Also present in 2012 was 2014 Music Director Jeremy Denk, who sat down with Fred Child at the Sunrise Subscriber Breakfast at the Ojai Valley Inn. At the breakfast, Jeremy spoke with Fred about his plans for the 68th Festival and answered questions from subscribers. The conversation was recorded and later aired on Performance Today.

If you missed the reception, or want to listen again, you can do so below:

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Now, almost two years later, Jeremy prepares to return to Ojai for his Festival. Programs and works may have shifted from his “original ideas,” but the spirit of the ideas shared in 2012 still live on in the planned Festival schedule. We’re so excited to have both Jeremy and APM back in Ojai this June – we hope you will join us!

View the 2014 Festival schedule >>
Order series passes online >>

2013 Year In Pictures

With Mark Morris at the helm as music director, 2013 was a momentous year, with more Festival events and concerts than ever before in its history. Click through the slideshow below to relive some of our favorite moments. We thank you for your steadfast support and enthusiasm, which help make each year possible.

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Create more Ojai memories in 2014. Please join us for the 68th Ojai Music Festival with Jeremy Denk. View program schedule >>

Please consider joining our new Ojai Membership to demonstrate your support >>

‘Winter Morning Walks’ Nominated for Grammy Awards

Congratulations to Maria Schneider and Dawn Upshaw, who both received Grammy Award nominations for their recording of Winter Morning Walks with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Schneider is nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Upshaw for Best Classical Vocal Solo. The recording also received nominations for Best Engineered Album (classical).

Winter Morning Walks, which takes as its text poems by Ted Kooser, received its premiere at the 65th Ojai Music Festival in 2011, where Upshaw served as music director. The piece was a co-commission of the Festival, Cal Performances, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Listen to the track “Perfectly Still This Solstice Morning” from Winter Morning Walks and ArtistShare album released earlier this year.

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We have our fingers crossed for both Maria and Dawn and wish them the best of luck with the final announcement! If you missed the 2011 performance, be sure to get your own copy using the link below.

“Ojai gave me the unique opportunity to bring my two worlds of jazz and classical together in my own personal way. I love that the Ojai audiences have come to expect absolutely anything. Their open mindedness is special and gives artists a rare feeling of freedom in whatever direction they personally wish to go.” – Maria Schneider

Click here to purchase Winter Morning Walks from ArtistShare >>

 

‘Plainspoken’ – Article on Mark Morris Published In ‘The Nation’

With the year drawing to a close there’s still time for a fond look back to June’s Festival. The Nation has just published “Plainspoken”, an excellent article on 2013 Music Director Mark Morris. Written by Marina Harss, who attended the 67th Festival, the piece examines Morris’ wide-ranging interests, fluency in music, and the personality behind the dances.

“There is this strange assumption that people make . . . where they wonder, are you a complete fascist/tyrant/dictator or do the dancers improvise? Well, neither. I mean it’s more that I’m a fascist dictator, but the dancers dance. They contribute by dancing.” The dancers are his instruments, the movement itself.

In recalling the 2013 Festival, Harss recalls a schedule that included up to 10 events a day and where Morris (and his dancers) was ever-present:

He is everywhere, at just about every talk, every performance (even the early morning concerts at a mediation center in the hills) and every late night event . . . at the dance party, Morris whips up a series of rounds, one based on the polka, the other on the waltz. He exhorts the participants to hold hands with strangers and look into their eyes, frankly, without irony.

Altogether, Harss paints a compelling picture of Morris and the sides of him that many would consider to be separate – choreographer, conductor, teacher – and how, it is only when they are united together, that they are able to make him the consummate champion of his art.

Read the complete article on The Nation’s website >>
Download a PDF of the article >>

2014 Ojai Music Festival – Music About Music

2014 Ojai: Music About Music

Jeremy Denk 2 - Credit Michael WilsonJeremy Denk is throwing a party, and he’s calling it the 2014 Ojai Music Festival. His guest list is broad and inclusive — from the Baroque to the music of today — but it’s a party with a theme, and that theme is music about music. So where to begin? Let’s begin with music that begins and then begins again: the canon, feeding on itself and spinning out into infinity. We’ll hear what Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Nancarrow, and Adès do with that canon, and what Uri Caine and Timo Andres do with the other canon as they reimagine music we thought we knew — Mahler, for instance, filtered through jazz and klezmer music, or Mozart’s Coronation Concerto re-composed as if through a time warp. Not for the purist or faint of heart, perhaps, but a telling reflection of what music has become in this age of eclectic listening. Now you see why Ives and Ligeti have been invited, and Janácek and Weill, as well — composers riffing on a layered counterpoint of styles and eras. Expect the same from a new work by Andrew Norman, whose wide-ranging interests and creative independence are part of his generational DNA. And from Jeremy Denk — a libretto inspired by Charles Rosen’s analytical survey of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven — The Classical Style. Hmm, the whiff of musicology…Party over? Not when Denk uses words like “irreverent,” “promiscuous,” and even “perverse” to describe this highspirited romp — abetted by composer Steven Stucky—through the crisp sparkle of the classical style, when music learned the art of conversation.

To Jeremy Denk, intelligent conversation, the give-and-take of ideas, is the whole point of music-making. It informs the depth and insight of his performances, the elegance and wit of his writing, and the quality of his musical friendships. For Ojai he has sought out colleagues who share his musical passions and love of fun, including pianist and conductor Uri Caine, the innovative orchestral collective, The Knights, conductors Robert Spano (2006 Ojai Music Director) and Eric Jacobsen (old friends from college days), as well as such vibrant solo performers as violinist Jennifer Frautschi and vocalist Storm Large. And where else do you throw this kind of party than in Ojai? No idle chatter here, no cocktail trivialities. In this environment, open to discovery with an audience ready to engage, every concert becomes a happening. Because in Ojai, it’s always all about the music.

– Christopher Hailey
Musicologist Christopher Hailey is Ojai’s program book editor and host of Ojai Concert Insights.

Information and Passes
2014 advance series subscriptions are now available; single tickets go on sale Spring 2014. For more information, please call 805 646 2053 or email [email protected].
Order online here >>
Download an order form here >>

Further Reading
Read Jeremy Denk’s bio >>
Visit Jeremy Denk’s website and blog >>
Read more about the Festival’s history >>

 

Tom Morris Gives Details on Jeremy Denk and The Classical Style

At our recent Annual Meeting, Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris shared details of Jeremy Denk’s planned programming for the 2014 Festival. Joining Jeremy in Ojai next June will be jazz pianist/composer Uri Caine, orchestra collective The Knights, violinist Jennifer Frautschi, composer Timo Andres, vocalist Storm Large, conductor Robert Spano, and more. Watch a video of the highlights below and read the latest, up-to-date schedule here >>

Meeting attendees also learned more about The Classical Style opera project and were introduced to the Festival’s new Executive Director, Janneke Straub. In addition, the organization thanked members of the Board and welcomed arts leaders Scott Reed and Nancybell Coe to the Board of Directors. The meeting concluded with a surprise Education Through Music (ETM) flashmob, featuring BRAVO! students and artists-in-residence.

Further details, including schedules for Ojai Extra events will be released early next year.

Series passes are on sale now for the June 12-15 Festival.
Learn more about pricing and how to purchase here >>

View photos from the Annual Meeting and ETM presentation here >>

 

Annual Meeting Photos

On November 9, the Festival held its Annual Meeting in Libbey Bowl. Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris shared programming details for the 2014 Festival with Jeremy Denk and the organization announced the appointment of its new Executive Director, Janneke Straub.

View photos from the meeting and the surprise ETM flashmob with BRAVO! students  at its conclusion below:

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Thank you to all the BRAVO! students who volunteered their time for the Annual Meeting and to all the attendees for their steadfast support of the Festival.

Ojai Music Festival Adds Two Arts Leaders to Board of Directors

Scott Reed and NancyBell Coe have been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Ojai Music Festival for three-year terms, announced Ojai’s board president Stephen (Mike) J.M. Morris at the recent Festival annual meeting held in Ojai. Both Mr. Reed and Ms. Coe are Santa Barbara residents with significant experience in the performing arts field. Mr. Reed is the president of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and Ms. Coe retired from that same position in 2010.

At the meeting, Mr. Mike Morris also recognized outgoing board members Jet Doye, Ron Phillips, Alan Rains, Esther Wachtell, and Stuart Meiklejohn, who served as board president between 2012-2013. He also welcomed the Festival’s new executive director Janneke Straub, who will begin her tenure in January 2014. Ms. Straub is currently the executive director at the American Youth Symphony in Los Angeles.

NancyBell Coe
NancyBell Coe small headshotNancyBell Coe retired as President of Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West in August 2010. She came to the Music Academy in 2004, after several years as artistic administrator at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Her long career in the performing arts industry includes the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Spokane Symphony in Washington. She was on the Ojai Music Festival Board of Directors from 2004-2010. NancyBell is active in the Santa Barbara community, where she serves as one of three co-trustees of iCAN, the Incredible Children’s Art Network and as a board member for the Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara, Inc. (CAMA). Additionally, she is a member of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras and New Music USA (New York). She further serves on the Board of Overseers at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music from Wellesley College, Phi Beta Kappa.

Scott Reed
Scott-Reed-webHaving begun his career at the Music Academy of the West as an unpaid intern in 1997, Scott Reed became only the fourth president in the history of the renowned classical music institution in August 2010. Immediately prior to his appointment, Mr. Reed served as vice president for institutional advancement at the Music Academy for five years. He came to the latter position via the San Francisco Opera, where he worked as associate director of development for nearly two years. While in San Francisco, he also served as a consultant for the St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation.

Following his stint as a college intern, Mr. Reed worked for the Music Academy from 1997 to 2004 as coordinator of alumni and student affairs, major gifts officer, and executive manager of the long-range facility upgrade campaign and permit entitlement process. During this time he was instrumental in the development of several initiatives, including the Academy’s innovative Compeer Program, which pairs fellows with donors and other Santa Barbara community members for informal social events throughout the summer season.

Mr. Reed earned his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ojai Music Directors Awarded Accolades by ‘Musical America’

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2010 Music Director George Benjamin (left) conducts during the 64th Ojai Music Festival
2014 Music Director Jeremy Denk (right) performs during the 63rd Ojai Music Festival

 

Musical America announced their 2014 award recipients today, and among them were two Ojai music directors: conductor/composer George Benjamin and pianist Jeremy Denk.

George Benjamin, music director of the 2010 Festival, was awarded Composer of the Year. Benjamin brought his opera Into the Little Hill to Ojai audiences in 2010 and Musical America highlighted his 2012 opera, Written on Skin, as “at once exquisitely wrought and devastatingly raw.”  Written on Skin has received almost 40 performances internationally to date and had its US premiere in August at Tanglewood – a music stream of the performances is available from New York’s WQXR Q2.

Jeremy Denk, who will serve as music director of the 2014 Festival, received the Instrumentalist of the Year award. As Musical America wrote, “His flourishing concert schedule, the second release in his Nonesuch recording contract (Bach’s Goldberg Variations), his widely read blog called “Think Denk,” and articles for the New Yorker, which led to a Random House book commission, attest to his multi-faceted artistry.” Denk is in the process of creating an opera of his own, The Classical Style, based on Charles Rosen’s work of musical analysis, which will feature music by Steven Stucky.

The Musical America awards rank among classical music’s highest honors, and will be presented by the performing arts resource at its annual ceremony on December 17 at Lincoln Center.

The Ojai Music Festival congratulates both George and Benjamin on their achievements – and hopes that this will be another in a line of many for both!

Read more on the Musical America website >>

 

Music Director Jeremy Denk Joins Class of 2013 MacArthur Foundation Fellows

2009 Ojai Music Saturday - June 13, 2009
Jeremy Denk performs at the 2009 Ojai Music Festival

We received news late last night that Ojai’s 2014 Music Director, Jeremy Denk, has been named one of 24 recipients of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Jeremy on this well-deserved accolade and can’t wait to see what the next five years bring!

24 Extraordinarily Creative People Who Inspire Us All: Meet the 2013 MacArthur Fellows – 

“MacArthur named its 2013 class of MacArthur Fellows, recognizing 24 exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for even more significant contributions in the future.

Fellows will each receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000 (increased from $500,000) paid out over five years. Without stipulations or reporting requirements, the Fellowship provides maximum freedom for recipients to follow their own creative vision.

“This year’s class of MacArthur Fellows is an extraordinary group of individuals who collectively reflect the breadth and depth of American creativity,” said Cecilia Conrad, Vice President, MacArthur Fellows Program. “They are artists, social innovators, scientists, and humanists who are working to improve the human condition and to preserve and sustain our natural and cultural heritage. Their stories should inspire each of us to consider our own potential to contribute our talents for the betterment of humankind.”

Click here for complete article >>
Click here for the complete roster of recipients including Jeremy Denk >>

“Thinking Denk” in Milwaukee

We love to hear when our patrons run into Festival artists outside of Ojai – it’s always thrilling finding out how large (and, at times, far-flung) our Festival family has grown. Rusti and Steve Moffic from Minnesota first attended the Festival in 2008 and have been returning ever since. They attended the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s opening last weekend, which featured none other than 2014 Music Director Jeremy Denk. Steve emailed the office yesterday to share his experience meeting Jeremy…and showcasing his Ojai “Think Denk” pin:

think denk

We did get to meet Jeremy and Rusti took a couple of pictures. Let us know if these work for you. You may notice in the first one, when I am talking to him, that I was wearing the”Think Denk” pin. Jeremy got a big laugh out of this, but it also became an item that others noticed, so we had a chance to inform them about Ojai!

He got rave reviews for his playing the Liszt’s First Piano Concerto. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, our daily paper, by a critic, Elaine Schmidt, who can be tough at times:

“Denk took the stage with Franz Liszt’s dramatic ‘Concerto No. 1’. Although Denk captured the power and drama of the piece, his performance was about far more than the piece’s biggest moments. . . Taking just a pinch of rubato at the top of a phrase or a quick, light release of the end of a passage, he drew his audience into the details of the piece. He moved from soulful, lyrical playing to a jaunty playfulness in this articulate, yet workless, explanation of the piece.”

Before the concert, I got a chance to listen to the CD you sent. I had always been struck by how the transition in Beethoven’s last piano sonata seemed to foreshadow boogie-woogie jazz 200 years later. It was therefore so gratifying that Jeremy made that same point in his liner notes.

In the post concert talk, he mdenk mofficentioned his love of jazz. When I told him that I had noticed that he invited the great jazz pianist Uri Caine, he remarked that “he’s a genius”. I, a lover of jazz more than classical music, couldn’t help but agree. It promises to be a great festival next summer if this is also a harbinger of things to come.

Best to you and the festival staff,
Steve

Thanks Steve, for letting us share your email – we can’t wait to see you again in June! Steve also recently wrote a blog on music and its effect on health in those who are older:
Read “Music for the Aging Mind” here >>

Festival Annual Meeting Moved to the late Fall

AGM for website

The Ojai Music Festival will welcome back patrons at our annual gathering, which will be scheduled later in the fall.

The plans will include a sneak peek of the upcoming 68th Festival (June 12-15, 2014) plus share updates on the BRAVO! education program.

Nonesuch Releases Jeremy Denk’s Recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations September 24

JEREMY_DENK_J.S._Bach_-_Goldberg_VariationsSMALLNonesuch releases pianist Jeremy Denk’s recording of J.S.Bach’s  Goldberg Variations on September 24, 2013, available for pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store. A companion DVD accompanies the album and contains video “liner notes,” with Denk demonstrating passages on the piano as he explains certain details of the iconic piece. (Watch an excerpt below.) The beloved Bach work has long been a staple of Denk’s repertoire and his performances have received critical praise. The New York Times has remarked on his “profound affinity with Bach,” and the Philadelphia Inquirer called Denk’s performance of this piece “mesmerizing,” noting that his “Bach is expressive, but not fussy or overthought. Technically unbothered by the work’s more explosive spots and remarkably fluid in its scurrying passage work, he was able to make connections between and among bits of material that sometimes occur many seconds apart.”

Denk plays in 15 US cities this fall, including a performance of the Goldberg Variations in Boston, Chicago, and DC and four nights in Davies Hall, one at Carnegie Hall, and one at the Krannert Center (in Champaign-Urbana) with the San Francisco Symphony playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503. See below for the currently scheduled US dates; for details and tickets, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

Writing for NPR’s Deceptive Cadence blog last year, Denk said, “The best reason to hate the Goldberg Variations—aside from the obvious reason that everyone asks you all the time which of the two [Glenn Gould] recordings you prefer—is that everybody loves them.” He continued, “Yes, I’m suspicious of the Goldbergs’ popularity. Classical Music is not really supposed to be that popular. I worried for years that I would be seduced into playing them, and would become like all the others—besotted, cultish—and that is exactly what happened. I have been assimilated into the Goldberg Borg.”

Denk’s previous releases include a recording of music by Charles Ives, released on his own Think Denk Media label, and a Nonesuch album of works by Beethoven and Ligeti. He also is an avid chamber musician and a respected writer, both on his blog and in such publications asThe New Yorker. Denk is expanding a recent article in that publication into a book that will be published by Random House.

Watch the full version of Ojai Talks with 2013 Music Director Mark Morris

mmtalkWhile we may have to wait 10 months for the 2014 Ojai Music Festival with Music Director Jeremy Denk, we can still relive the memories of this past year with 2013 Music Director, the celebrated choreographer Mark Morris.

Watch the complete 45-minute program of the Ojai Talks on June 6 with Mark and Ara Guzelimian, former Artistic Director of the Ojai Music Festival and Ojai Talks director. The topic was “choreographer as musician” full of lively stories and insights from Morris.

Watch here >>

 

From the Vault: Jeremy Denk’s Notes from the 2009 Festival on Bach’s Goldberg Variations

Jeremy Denk made his first appearance in Ojai at the 2009 Festival with Music Director eighth blackbird. The pianist was very thoughtful and helpful in sending over notes for his Saturday Morning Concert, which included Bach’s iconic work, Goldberg Variations (about to be released on Nonesuch Records). As we move forward Jeremy’s return to Ojai – this time as the 2014 Music Director – read about how he first explained this piece, which has become an significant part of his repertoire.

2009 Ojai Music Saturday - June 13, 2009
Jeremy Denk performs at the 2009 Festival at Libbey Bowl. Credit: Robert Millard.

“I think the connection between the Goldbergs and the Ives First Sonata is … opposites attract?  Beauty and the Beast?  This program is a bit like a couple that you would never imagine would get together but, when you hook them up, they suddenly have a lot to say to each other.  I love the idea–a kind of painterly contrast–of the luminous, serene Goldbergs against the dark, raucous Ives Sonata.  An 18th-century German Lutheran and a 19th-century Connecticut farming family may not be all that far apart, in some sense:  they’re both spartan and spiritual.  One of my favorite parts of the Goldberg Variations is the concluding Quodlibet, where Bach takes two common tunes and superimposes them over the Goldberg harmonic ground:  a masterstroke of composition, but also a wonderful joke combining high and low, the profound and profane.  And what could be more Ivesian than that?

For me, the Goldberg Variations is a tripartite cosmos:  a third of the variations are full of humorous keyboard virtuosity, another third are extraordinary canonic demonstrations, and another third are “character pieces,” which draw on the musical world around Bach, almost reproducing that world, like a mural.  The Ives Sonata has interesting parallels to this:  it has a big arching structure of three serious movements, flanking two down-and-dirty scherzos.  The effect is that Ives journeys back and forth from the dark, wintry, severe character of his rural Connecticut family–with their plaintive hymns and ballads–to the totally different, citified world of ragtime, painting in wild contrasts a picture of Ives’s sprawling, uniquely American musical world.” – Jeremy Denk