A gathering among friends

Last week’s Annual General Meeting was a bit like the Festival itself…a reunion of close friends getting together, swapping stories and talking about what they enjoyed at the Festival, and of course, what they didn’t. After all, this was the Ojai Festival crowd, and that meant plenty of provocative and lively discussion at every table!

There were many highlights to the lovely afternoon at the Ranch House, but what everyone eagerly waited upon was getting inside details of the 2012 Festival from Artistic Director Tom Morris. Tom shared that he and Music Director Leif Ove Andsnes had been working over the past months to craft a program that reflects Andsnes’ wide-ranging and diverse interests. Like the reputable Risor Festival in Norway which he helped co-found, Ojai will embrace a sense of community not only between artists on the stage, but between audience and artists. We can expect some adventurous mix of elements and as Tom said a “wall-to-wall’ weekend of music and discussion.

Tom also highlight that Ojai already places music of our time at the center of what it does, but unlike some contemporary music festivals that concentrate on just what’s new, Ojai builds a case for how the music of today fits into the context of the longer musical historical conversation.

More discussions on this very topic will start to percolate these next several months and definitely during the Festival. Stay tuned!