Josephine Baker: A Portrait
Josephine Baker : A Portrait Julia Bullock, soprano Tyshawn Sorey, percussion International Contemporary Ensemble Peter Sellars, director In June of 2016, the Ojai Music Festival and that year’s Music Director Peter Sellars offered the world premiere of a song cycle by Tyshawn Sorey with spoken text written by Claudia Rankine, Josephine Baker: A Portrait, performed by soprano …
‘Reimagining Josephine Baker’s Music in the Era of Black Lives Matter’ – NY Times
In the lead-up to the East Coast premiere of the Josephine Baker Project, The New York Times Zachary Woolfe sat down with Julia Bullock and Tyshawn Sorey to discuss the genesis and evolution of the project, and its particular importance at this moment in time. Read the full piece on the NY Times website or …
Ojai Music Festival Photo Gallery
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”124″ display=”basic_imagebrowser”]Entering in its 75th anniversary season, the Ojai Music Festival connects world-renowned artists and audiences in performances and conversations that push limits, risk failures, and spark surprise. The Festival nurtures musicians, composers, and artists who shape the music of our time. Ojai’s spirit of innovation and informality draws audiences who are specifically eager …
Stay Connected and Reminisce with our Archives
Ojai has been a creative laboratory for today’s pathbreaking artists featuring refreshing new works to open our hearts and minds. Dear Friends, As all of us are hunkered down during these challenging times, we invite you to stay connected through the music that inspires, challenges and delights us in Ojai. Here are a few concerts archived …
2019 Music Director Barbara Hannigan and Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris Announce Final Programs for 73rd Ojai Music Festival
The 2019 Festival celebrates Barbara Hannigan as conductor, singer, and mentor; welcomes resident ensemble LUDWIG and members of Hannigan’s Equilibrium (EQ) mentoring initiative in their US debuts, and presents pianist Stephen Gosling and pianist/conductor Edo Frenkel in their Ojai debuts; and includes the return of JACK Quartet and conductor/percussionist Steven Schick Featured will be works …
Ojai Music Festival Announces Initial 2019 Festival Program with Music Director Barbara Hannigan
The 73rd Festival celebrates Hannigan as conductor, singer, and mentor; welcomes resident ensemble LUDWIG and members of Hannigan’s Equilibrium (EQ) mentoring initiative in their US debuts, and pianist Stephen Gosling and pianist/conductor Edo Frenkel in their Ojai debuts; and the return of JACK Quartet and conductor/percussionist Steven Schick Works by composers central to Ojai’s history …
Congrats to Tyshawn Sorey: 2017 MacArthur Fellow Recipient
Congratulations to our friend and collaborator Tyshawn Sorey on his appointment as a MacArthur Fellow. Tyshawn’s astonishing creativity has been so evident in Ojai for the last two Festivals – 2016 with Peter Sellars and Julia Bullock, and in 2017 with Vijay Iyer (Sellars and Iyer are themselves MacArthur Fellows). Ojai is an incubator …
Ojai Music Festival and 2017 Music Director Vijay Iyer Announce the 71st Festival Program June 8-11, 2017
Vijay Iyer is joined by a community of artistic collaborators, including returning Ojai family members 2015 Music Director Steven Schick, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Carnatic vocalist Aruna Sairam, flutist Claire Chase, and composer/percussionist Tyshawn Sorey Iyer introduces Ojai to master musicians from various backgrounds and communities: Brentano Quartet; violinist Jennifer Koh; vocalist/composer Jen Shyu; Vijay …
Sitting In with Vijay Iyer
Back in 1992 Vijay Iyer, studying physics at UC Berkeley and living in Oakland, crossed the street to check out the music in a neighborhood club. Before long the young graduate student and largely self-taught jazz pianist was sitting in with a cohort of local elder statesmen, three and four times his age. Music had …
Ojai Live 2016
Use the player above and join us for Ojai Live 2016 to watch live streamed Festival concerts, interviews, and Talks online on your computer, phone, or tablet. Hosts for this year join us from Classical KUSC and include Executive Producer Gail Eichenthal, host Alan Chapman, and correspondents Craig Curtis and Thomas Kotcheff. Tune in at concert time to view live or …
From New York: Tom Morris Shares an Inside Look into Rehearsals
May 27, 2016 I spent the last day at our first rehearsals in New York for Ojai 2016. Most of artists are in New York so it is most efficient to do much of our preparation work there. We will be holding rehearsals there through June 1, and then the artists then come to Ojai …
Ojai Music Festival Named NY Times Essential Summer Festival
The New York Times has just named the “50 Essential Summer Music Festivals” of 2016, and we are thrilled to have made the list! Here’s what they had to say: “Peter Sellars, who directs the festival this summer, was inspired by the spiritual traditions of the Ojai Valley when creating this rich 70th anniversary lineup, …
5 Questions To Peter Sellars – Interview by Larry & Arlene Dunn
Longtime contributors to new music blog I Care If You Listen Larry and Arlene Dunn recently published an interview with 2016 Music Director Peter Sellars for the site’s popular “Five Questions To…” interview series. Read the interview below, reposted with permission, and explore more articles and news on the I Care website. Opera and theater …
Live Stream Archives
Welcome to the Ojai Music Festival’s Live Stream Archive! Festival events are streamed live each June and archived here later in the year. View videos from past years using the players below. You can also watch more videos on the our YouTube Channel.
Updates To The 2016 Festival Schedule Announced
Honoring a long-held spirit of pushing boundaries with artists, music, ideas, and audiences, the Festival celebrates its milestone 70th year by broadening the roster of artists, continuing a focus on concerts for the community, and expanding the Festival’s geographic reach Ojai welcomes Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and showcases her works throughout the Festival including the …
Ojai Music Festival Announces Music Directors Through 75th Festival
Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris announces the artists who will serve as Music Directors through the Festival’s 75th anniversary in 2021. Following previously announced future music directors Vijay Iyer (June 8-11, 2017) and Esa-Pekka Salonen (June 7-10, 2018), soprano/conductor Barbara Hannigan will be the 2019 music director (June 6-9), violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja in 2020 (June 11-14) and pianist Mitsuko Uchida in 2021 (June 10-13).
Music Director Peter Sellars Statement on the 2016 Festival
“The Ojai Valley has long been recognized as a rare and beautiful natural site that invites retreat, renewal, and regeneration, from Chumash ceremonial life to Krishnamurti’s legendary talks under the trees. The valley has both a grandeur and a human scale that inspire and allow the deepest human questions to resonate, and create a …
2016 Festival Schedule
> 70th Ojai Music Festival | June 9-12, 2016 Peter Sellars, music director View the schedule for the 2016 Festival below, or use the links to jump to a day: Thursday, June 9 | Friday, June 10 | Saturday, June 11 | Sunday, June 12 = Paid Single Ticket Download PDF >> 2:00-4:30pm | Ojai …
2016 Festival
2016 Music Director Peter Sellars frames programming for 70th Ojai Music Festival June 9-12, 2016 The Ojai Music Festival marks its 70th year in 2016 and to curate this milestone, Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris has invited opera and theater director Peter Sellars to serve as Music Director. For the 2016 Festival, Peter Sellars …
2016 Festival
2016 Music Director Peter Sellars frames programming for 70th Ojai Music Festival June 9-12, 2016 The Ojai Music Festival marks its 70th year in 2016 and to curate this milestone, Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris has invited opera and theater director Peter Sellars to serve as Music Director. For the 2016 Festival, Peter Sellars is …
Festival Milestones
Milestones and highlights from the past seven decades of Festival programming
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Milestones
1947 May 4 – First concert features French baritone Martial Singher with Paul Ulanowsky in a recital covering repertoire from Rameau to Ravel at Ojai’s Nordhoff Auditorium. 1948 – Lawrence Morton becomes first program annotator and begins his association with the Festival; Igor Stravinky’s Histoire du soldat (A Solider’s Tale) is billed as the premiere …