Author: Olivia Consterdine

SEASON 5

Welcome to OJAICAST, where we pull back the curtain to take a sneak-peek at the upcoming Ojai Music Festival, June 5 to 8, in beautiful Ojai Valley, California. All are welcome here, from newcomers to long-time music fans. In-depth insights and special guests will help introduce this year’s programming and whet your musical appetites for what’s to come with host Christopher Noxon.

EPISODE 4

In our fourth and final episode of this series leading up to the 2025 Ojai Music Festival, Leilehua Lanzilotti discusses giant reverbs and how Hawaiian culture influences her music. Composer Liza Lim then talks about writing for solo flute and explains How Forests Think.

Music featured
1. ko’u inoa composed by Leilehua Lanzilotti and performed by Jordan Bak
2. ahupua’a: iii. mohala i ka wai ka maka o ka pua composed by Leilehua Lanzilotti and performed by Leilehua Lanzilotti
3. Sola: II. – composed by Anna Thorvaldsdottir and performed by Leilehua Lanzilotti
4. Hawai’i Aloha Traditional, performed by IZ
5. Ke Aloha O Ka Haku (Queen’s Prayer) performed by Kamehameha School Children’s Choir
6. Sola: I. Prologue – I. – composed by Anna Thorvaldsdottir and performed by Leilehua Lanzilotti
7.  How Forests Think: IV. The Trees composed by Liza Lim and performed by Elision Ensemble
8. How Forests Think: III. Pollen composed by Liza Lim and performed by Elision Ensemble
9. Sex Magic: III. Oracles II “Womb Bell” composed by Liza Lim and performed by Claire Chase
10. Sex Magic: IV. Oracles III “Vermillion – On Rage” composed by Liza Lim and performed by Claire Chase
11. I find you in all things composed by Jane Sheldon and performed by Jane Sheldon

Will Thomas, Writer & Producer
Christopher Noxon, Host
Leilehua Lanzilotti and Liza Lim, Guests

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

EPISODE 3

This week we look behind the scenes of how the Ojai Music Festival is curated with this year’s Music Director, Claire Chase and the Festival’s Artistic and Executive Director, Ara Guzelimian. Claire tells the story of this year’s Pulitzer Prize winning piece, Sky Islands by Susie Ibarra. She also demonstrates some of her exotic flute sounds and techniques.

Music featured –
1. Pan – Death of Pan composed by Marcos Balter and performed by Claire Chase
2. Pan – Pan’s Flute composed by Marcos Balter and performed by Claire Chase
3. Pan – Harmony of the Spheres composed by Marcos Balter and performed by Claire Chase
4. Holy Liftoff composed by Terry Riley and performed by Claire Chase, unreleased
5. Sex Magic: II. Oracles I “Salutations to the Cowrie Shells composed by Liza Lim, performed by Claire Chase & Senem Pirler
6. Sky Islands composed by Susie Ibarra and performed by Claire Chase, unreleased
7. Sunbird composed by Susie Ibarra and performed by Claire Chase, unreleased
8. On the Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: I. Our Evenings composed by Leos Janacek and performed by Rudolf Firkusny
9. Yenna performed by Ali Farka Touré
10. Horse Sings From Cloud composed and performed by Pauline Oliveros

Will Thomas, Writer & Producer
Christopher Noxon, Host
Claire Chase and Ara Guzelimian, Guests

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

EPISODE 2

In this episode, cellist Jay Campbell discusses the adventurous programming of the Ojai Music Festival (June 5-8) and his recurring role on the Libbey Bowl stage with the JACK Quartet. Composer Annea Lockwood then takes us on an aural journey down rivers and bayous as she shares about her decades-long trials of recording the wind.

Music featured –
1. Chambers composed by Marcos Balter and performed by the JACK Quartet, unreleased recording
2. The Holy Presence of Joan D’Arc composed by Julius Eastman and performed by Seth Parker Woods/Wild Up
3. Sky Islands composed by Susie Ibarra, unreleased recording
4. Eastre composed by Autechre
5. Bayou-Borne composed by Annea Lockwood and performed by Ensemble Maze
6. Housatonic River Recording by composer Annea Lockwood, unreleased
7. Wind by composer Cathy Lane
8. Arctic Winds by composer Maggi Payne

Will Thomas, Writer & Producer
Christopher Noxon, Host
Jay Campbell & Annea Lockwood, Guests 

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

EPISODE 1

We launch season five of OJAICAST as your host Christopher Noxon dives into the lineup of the 2025 Ojai Music Festival (June 5-8).   He joins composer-in-residence Marcos Balter and talks about writing music at a young age, audience participation in his music, and collaborating with this year’s Music Director and longtime friend Claire Chase.

Music featured –
1. Processional performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter)
2. Pan’s Flute performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter)
3. Harmony of the Spheres performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter)
4. Alone performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter), unreleased
5. Chambers performed by Spektral Quartet (composer Marcos Balter)
6. Sugarcane Fields Forever by Caetano Veloso
7. Processional performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter)

Will Thomas, Writer & Producer
Christopher Noxon, Host
Marcos Balter, Guest

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Also available on SPOTIFY, APPLE PODCASTS and YOUTUBE
OJAICAST SEASON 4
OJAICAST SEASON 3
OJAICAST SEASON 2
OJAICAST SEASON 1

Stay tuned for Episode 4!

ABOUT OUR HOST
Christopher Noxon writes and paints in Ojai, CA. His solo show “Terra Incognita” opens at Oxford House Projects in LA on May 17. He’s on the board of the Ojai Valley Museum and the Ojai Studio Artists. He’s the author and illustrator of Good Trouble: Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook, Plus One: A Novel and Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons Cupcakes and the Reinvention of the American Grown-Up. His work has been featured in the New Yorker, the Atlantic and the New York Times Magazine.

ABOUT OUR WRITER & PRODUCER
Will Thomas is a composer, producer and sound artist based in Ojai, CA.  He has composed music for TV, Film scores, movie trailers and has released multiple albums on labels Thrill Jockey, Hydrogen Dukebox and his own Neutral Music imprint.  He is a frequent collaborator including works with Joseph Arthur, Roger Eno, Natalie Walker, and Jason Bentley.  His music has been featured in countless programs on Netflix, HBO, SyFy, NBC, and he won the award for Best Score at the Filmquest Film Festival for The Haunted Swordsman. Most recently, he has experimented with mechanical instrument making and sound art installations.  

Since 2012, the Ojai Music Festival has expanded its global footprint building a worldwide audience and has deepened connections with patrons throughout the year with free Live Stream Broadcasts. The 78th Festival, June 6 to 9, continues this offering with acclaimed pianist Mitsuko Uchida as Music Director.

You can watch the free live streams of the Libbey Bowl concerts from the Festival’s home page which will begin Thu, June 6 at 8pm. The complete evening concerts will only be available at the time of the performance. UPDATE: Full morning concerts and highlights of the evening concerts are now available below and on our YouTube channel (7/1/24). 

Stay updated on new Festival videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

For more context on this year’s Festival, enjoy these links:

THU June 6, 2024

Selections from the 8:00PM OPENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl  

Brentano String Quartet | Lucy Fitz Gibbon soprano 

HAYDN   String Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 (“Bird”) 
SCHOENBERG   Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19  
SCHOENBERG   String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 10 

FRI June 7, 2024

10:00AM 

Julie Smith Phillips harp | Jay Campbell cello | Sae Hashimoto percussion | Naomi Shaham double bass | Brentano String Quartet 

KAIJA SAARIAHO   Fall             
HELMUT LACHENMANN   Pression 
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA   Five Etudes         
BARTÓK   String Quartet No. 5 

Selections from the 8:00PM concert

José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader 
Mahler Chamber Orchestra 

STRAVINSKY   Fanfare for a New Theater
WEBERN   Five Movements for Strings, Op. 5
SCHOENBERG  Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9

SAT June 8, 2024

10:00AM

Ljubinka Kulisic accordion | Rick Stotijn double bass | Musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra 

JOHN ZORN Road Runner       
MISSY MAZZOLI   Dark with Excessive Bright 
JOHN ADAMS   Shaker Loops 

Selections from the 8:00PM concert

José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader | Aliisa Neige Barrière conductor | Vicente Alberola clarinet  

DEBUSSY (arr. Benno SACHS)   Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun 
KAIJA SAARIAHO Lichtbogen 
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN   Elegy (from kínēma) 

SUN June 9, 2024

10:00AM

Alexi Kenney violin | Sae Hashimoto percussion | Ljubinka Kulisic accordion | Brentano String Quartet 

BIBER  Passacaglia for solo violin 
KAIJA SAARIAHO  Six Japanese Gardens 
HAYDN From The Seven Last Words of Christ 
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA  In Croce 

Selections from the 5:30PM concert

José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader |  
Mahler Chamber Orchestra 

HAYDN   Symphony No. 46 in B major, Hob. I:46 
JÖRG WIDMANN Chorale Quartet (Choralquartett), version for chamber orchestra

SEASON 4

This season on OJAICAST, we have one very special episode where host Emily Praetorius gets to talk in-depth with Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian about what magic is in store for us at the 2024 Ojai Music Festival (June 6-9). From Mozart to Schoenberg and Haydn to Gubaidulina, we take a musical tour of the Festival programming with some extra insights into Music Director Mitsuko Uchida’s close connections with the fabulous roster of musicians joining her this year.

Episode 1

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K.453 – 3. Allegretto
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Tate

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat Major, K. 482 – I. Allegro
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Tate

Sophia Gubaidulina: Five Etudes for Harp, Double Bass and Percussion
Performed by Christina Rozhkova, Alexander Suslin and Mark Pekarsky

Schoenberg: 6 Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19 – 6. Sehr langsam
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida

Sophia Gubaidulina: In Croce
Performed by Maria Kliegel and Elsbeth Moser

Helmut Lachenmann: Interieur
Performed by Sae Hashimoto

Kaija Saariaho: Lichtbogen
Performed by Avanti Chamber Orchestra

György Kurtág: Kafka Fragments – No. 19
Performed by Ah Young Hong and Patricia Kopatchinskaja

John Zorn: Road Runner
Performed by Frode Haltli

Haydn: Symphony No. 46 in B Major, Hob.I:46 – 4. Finale. Presto e scherzando
Performed by the English Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K.453 – 3. Allegretto
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Tate

Emily Praetorius, host and producer
Louis Ng, recording engineer

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Also available on SPOTIFY and APPLE PODCASTS
OJAICAST SEASON 3
OJAICAST SEASON 2
OJAICAST SEASON 1

ABOUT OUR OJAICAST HOST 
Emily Praetorius, a former Ojai Music Festival Rothenberg Intern Fellow, is a composer from Ojai, CA. She recently received her DMA from Columbia University in 2023 where she studied composition with Georg Friedrich Haas and George Lewis. Her pieces have been performed by several New York City based ensembles such as Yarn/Wire, Mivos Quartet, TAK and Wet Ink Ensemble. Recent works include a solo viola work on violist Carrie Frey’s 2023 album Seagrass and a current collaboration with violin-viola duo andPlay. After 10 years of living in New York City where she studied, composed and co-owned Kuro Kirin Espresso & Coffee, she returned to her hometown of Ojai to live in the sunshine and go hiking every weekend. 

SEASON 3

Welcome to OJAICAST, where we pull back the curtain to take a sneak-peek at the upcoming Ojai Music Festival, June 8 to 11, in beautiful Ojai Valley, California. All are welcome here, from newcomers to long-time music fans. In-depth insights and special guests will help introduce this year’s programming and whet your musical appetites for what’s to come with host Emily Praetorius.

Episode 1

Our first episode gives an in-depth look into the 77th Ojai Music Festival (June 8 – 11, 2023), curated by Music Director Rhiannon Giddens. Special guest Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian will give us some insights into the creation of this year’s festival programming and background on some of pieces being played.

Ojai Virtual Talks, Rhiannon Giddens
Uncovering the History of the Banjo with Rhiannon Giddens

Emily Praetorius, host and producer
Louis Ng, recording engineer

OJAICast theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Music Excerpts in this Episode:
I’m on My Way – Rhiannon Giddens 
Performed by Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi

Liquid Borders – Gabriela Ortiz
Performed by red fish blue fish

Clock Catcher – Flying Lotus
Performed by Attacca Quartet

Ghost Opera – Tan Dun
Performed by Kronos Quartet

Episode 2

Our second episode takes a look at the idea of composing across boundaries with 2023 Festival composers Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Carlos Simon.

Shawn Okpebholo
Ojai Virtual Talks: Lei Liang and Steve Schick
Niloufar Nourbakhsh and IFCA
Carlos Simon, Requiem for the Enslaved
Bill Traylor 

Emily Praetorius, host and producer
Louis Ng, recording engineer

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Music Excerpts in this Episode:
mi sueño: afro-flamenco – Shawn Okpebholo
Performed by Clare Longendyke

The Willows are New – Chou Wen-Chung
Performed by Gloria Cheng

Veiled – Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Performed by Amanda Gookin

Between Worlds – Carlos Simon
Performed by Julia Mirzoev

Episode 3

Our final episode welcomes kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, pipa player Wu Man, and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi to the podcast, where they discuss the history of their instruments, how they are played in contemporary music today, and what we can look forward to in this year’s Festival programming.

Niloufar Shiri Performs at Ojai Meadows Preserve
Niloufar Shiri
Pop Up Pipa with Wu Man
Francesco Turrisi: Playlist & Ojai Talk
Francesco Turrisi
Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi Met Museum Concert

Emily Praetorius, host and producer
Louis Ng, recording engineer

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Music Excerpts in this Episode:
Niloufar Shiri Improvisation
Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi Met Museum Concert

Also available on SPOTIFY and APPLE PODCASTS
OJAICAST SEASON 2
OJAICAST SEASON 1

ABOUT OUR OJAICAST HOST 
Emily Praetorius, former Ojai Music Festival intern and Rothenberg Intern Fellow, is a current Composition DMA candidate at Columbia University. She previously studied composition and clarinet performance at the University of Redlands (BM) and composition at Manhattan School of Music (MM). She has studied with Kathryn Nevin (clarinet), Susan Botti, Georg Friedrich Haas, George Lewis, and Anthony Suter. Emily is from Ojai, CA and lives in New York City where she is a proud co-owner of Kuro Kirin Espresso & Coffee.

Grammy award winning multi-instrumentalist and 2023 Festival artist Francesco Turrisi has been defined a “musical alchemist” and a “musical polyglot” by the press. Enjoy this wide-ranging music playlist curated by Francesco especially made for the Ojai Music Festival!

PLUS, watch the conversation with Francesco and Festival Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian during our Virtual Ojai Talks in December. Click here >

Preview Francesco Turrisi’s playlist here, and log into Spotify or Apple Music to hear the full songs

1. Slide Dance
by Tamer Pinarbasi, Ismail Lumanovski, Ara Dinkjian

2. Per ogni sorte di strumenti musicale, Op. 22: Passacaglio
composed by Biagio Marini, performed by Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI

3. Yo Vivo Enamorado
by Pedrito Martinez

4. Eliasong
by Christian Wallumrød Ensemble

5. Pucciniana
by Guinga

6. Lament for Linus
by Brad Mehldau

7. Sonata Da Chiesa No. 1 in D Major, Op. 5: I. Grave – Adagio – Grave – Allegro – Adagio
composed by Arcangelo Corelli, performed by Accademia Bizantina, Ottavio Dantone, and Stefano Montanari

8. Como al Pie del Suplicio Estuve
by Efrén López

9. La Tarantella dell’Avena
by Zahr

10. Sareri Hovin Mernem
by Lena Chamamyan

BONUS track. Here’s an added piece of music requested by Ojai listeners! Spotify – Passacaglia – song and lyrics by Francesco Turrisi

ENJOY Francesco’s Mom’s delicious “lean” lasagna recipe! Click here >

Photos by Timothy Teague

Photos by Joshus S. Rose

Festival Patron Photos by Timothy Teague

Where to get a cup of coffee (and more) in Ojai

By Lisa McKinnon

First-time visitors to downtown Ojai may be surprised when they go looking for a Starbucks: There isn’t one, thanks to a moratorium on chain businesses with five or more locations. Luckily, Ojai Music Festival audiences in need of a caffeinated pick-me-up between song cycles and dance-theater pieces have plenty of non-corporate options from which to choose.

Beacon Coffee Co., 211 W. Ojai Ave., no phone, beaconcoffee.com. Daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Beans sourced from small farms in Kenya, Costa Rica and Guatemala are roasted at the café’s sister location in Ventura, then featured in pour overs, flat whites, cappuccinos and seasonal mochas (the festival coincides with Beacon’s annual switch from Ojai Pixie to lavender, the latter from Frog Creek Farm in the Upper Ojai). Magic Hour teas blended in Ojai are available hot or cold. The café’s kitchen is home to SunOven gluten-free vegan bakery, which produces lavender-lemon doughnuts among other treats. Additional baked goods are from Frontside Cafe in Ventura.

Café Boku, 987 W. Ojai Ave., 805-650-2658, cafeboku.com. Daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The menu of organic, plant-based food and drinks infused with ingredients from Ojai-based Boku Superfoods includes coffees and espressos made from locally roasted beans from Bonito Coffee Roaster. Enjoy an invigorating Golden Shroom Latte while juicing up your electric car at the café’s bank of chargers.

Coffee Connection, 311 E. El Roblar Drive, Meiners Oaks, 805-646-7821, coffeeconnectionojai.com. 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

Look for the orange patio umbrellas to locate this off-the-beaten path local favorite specializing in organic, fair-trade coffee, espresso and loose-leaf teas. Drinks are available hot or cold. You’ll also find Mexican hot chocolate and baked goods.

Farmer and the Cook, 339 W. El Roblar Drive, Meiners Oaks, 805-640-9608, farmer-and-the-cook.com. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

The combination organic bakery, market and Mexican café with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options also operates as a community gathering place and espresso bar with drip coffee and specialty drinks. “Beneficial” beverages like the Turmeric Toddy and adaptogenic hot chocolate (made with fungi) are available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Java & Joe, 323 E. Matilija St., Suite 105, 805-646-3138, javajoeojai.com. Daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Nearing its 28^th anniversary, the coffeehouse offers an ever-changing lineup of roasts, plus specialty drinks that can be made hot or cold. There’s also a wide selection of whole beans, loose-leaf teas and mugs, carafes and tea pots to take home as gifts.

Love Social Café, 205 N. Signal St., 805-646-1540, lovesocialcafe.com. Daily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Dune Coffee from Santa Barbara is featured, both freshly brewed and on nitro (cold). The café also serves lattes, cappuccinos and the eye-opening Gibraltar/Cortado – a double espresso topped with an equal amount of micro foam. Fresh-squeezed orange juice and matcha lemonade are also available.

Ojai Coffee Roasting Co., 337 E. Ojai Ave., 805-646-4478, facebook.com/OjaiCoffee. 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Owner and roaster Stacey Jones is often behind the counter at the café she opened in 1995 (and which served as a filming location for the 2010 movie “Easy A” starring Emma Stone). Arabica beans are roasted on site in small batches for coffees, espressos, red eyes (espresso plus drip coffee) and more. Check the specials board for lattes ranging from lavender to honey cinnamon.

Pinyon, 423 E. Ojai Ave., no phone, pinyonojai.com. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

In a nod to the coffee-served-all-day tradition set by the pre-moratorium Jersey Mike’s that previously occupied its address, Pinyon serves French-press hot and cold-brew versions of Los Angeles-based Canyon Coffee from opening till close.

Sage Cafè, 217 E. Matilija St., 805-646-9204, rainbowbridgeojai.com/sage. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays; 5-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.

Keeping track of your caffeine intake? A “none-to-high” scale for teas is spelled out on glass display case at this counter-service restaurant that also serves drip coffee, collagen lattes and herbal tonics.

The Dutchess, 457 E. Ojai Ave., 805-640-7987, thedutchessojai.com. Daily from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Named for a vintage bread oven, the Rustic Canyon Family restaurant operates as a coffeehouse from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.-ish, when the focus is on order-at-the-counter service of Bonito Coffee drinks and Magic Hour teas (including a heavy-caffeine black variety dubbed Organic Flower Dutchess) to go with grab-and-go sandwiches, cookies, seasonal-ingredient cakes and artisanal breads by pastry chef/partner Kelsey Brito and bread baker/partner Kate Pepper. The Dutchess switches to sit-down dinner mode at 4:30 p.m., when its California-Burmese menu becomes available.

Westridge Midtown Market, 131 W. Ojai Ave., 805-646-4082, westridgemarket.com. Daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Fans of Peet’s Coffee will find the brand served at the service deli.

Lisa McKinnon is Ventura-based food writer who drank a LOT of coffee and still managed to fall asleep during a special, four-hour performance at the 2002 Ojai Music Festival — but only because audience members were invited to bring pillows and blankets and told get comfortable on the Ojai Art Center floor for the duration. She’s on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok as 805foodie, and blogs at 805foodie.com.

SEASON 2

Welcome to OJAICAST, where we pull back the curtain to take a sneak-peek at the upcoming Ojai Music Festival, June 9 to 12, in beautiful Ojai Valley, California. All are welcome here, from newcomers to long-time music fans. In-depth insights and special guests will help introduce this year’s programming and whet your musical appetites for what’s to come with host Emily Praetorius.

Episode 1

Our first episode introduces us to our 2022 Music Director AMOC, the multidisciplinary collective which incorporates music, dance, poetry, theatre in all their work and their ambitious programming that begins on Thu June 9. Guests: Ara Guzelimian, Zack Winokur, and Keir Gogwilt

Emily Praetorius, producer and host
Louis Ng, sound engineer (lensonproductions.com)

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Music Excerpts in Episode 1:
Craigie Hill, by Keir GoGwilt and Celeste Oram
Performed by Keir GoGwilt

Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, by Julius Eastman
Performed by Julius Eastman

Rebonds B, by Iannis Xenakis
Performed by Steven Schick

Gretchen am spinnrade, by Eric Wubbels
Performed by Eric Wubbels and Mariel Roberts

Episode 2

From early morning sunrise to evening sunset, AMOC dives into the music of icons George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell, the life and music of Julius Eastman alongside world premieres of works by Anthony Cheung and new staging of Messian’s Harawi. Guests: AMOC member and flutist Emi Ferguson and composer Anthony Cheung.

Emily Praetorius, producer and host
Louis Ng, sound engineer (lensonproductions.com)

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Music Excerpts in Episode 2:
Gay Guerilla, by Julius Eastman
Performed by Julius Eastman

Stay on It, by Julius Eastman
Performed by Julius Eastman, Doug Gaston, Amrom Chodos, Dennis Kahle, Benjamin Hudson, Joseph Ford, George Mitkoff, Jan Williams, Peter Kotik

Harawi, mvts. 2, 6, 10, by Olivier Messiaen
Performed by Hetna Regitze Bruun and Kristoffer Hyldig

Episode 3

Let Festival weekend begin! In this episode we look at the Saturday program which is quintessential Ojai Music Festival — music of Bach and Bach re-imagined and three premieres of some of today’s most exciting composers Matthew Aucoin, Carolyn Chen, and Andrew McIntosh. Guests: AMOC co-founder/composer Matthew Aucoin and AMOC member and violinist Miranda Cuckson.

Emily Praetorius, producer and host
Louis Ng, sound engineer (lensonproductions.com)

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Music Excerpts in Episode 3:
cross/collapse, by Catherine Lamb

About Bach, by Cassandra Miller
Performed by Quatuor Bozzini

Tanz Tanz, by Reiko Füting
Performed by Olivia de Prato

Prelude in G Minor, by Bach
Performed by Emi Ferguson and Ruckus

Little Jimmy, by Andrew McIntosh
Performed by Yarn/Wire

Episode 4

More music, meditation, and dance plus community events end the four-day Festival starting with Meditation with the music of Julius Eastman, followed by Hans Otte’s The Book of Sounds, and two world premieres Dance in the Park and Rome is Falling. To end this jam-packed Fesrival, the Sunday Finale will display the virtuosity of all 17 AMOC members as a collective. Guests: Ara Guzelimian, Julia Eichten, and Doug Balliett.

Emily Praetorius, producer and host
Louis Ng, sound engineer (lensonproductions.com)

OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks

Music Excerpts in Episode 4:
The Book of Sounds, mvts. 1, 10, by Hans Otte
Performed by Ralph van Raat

Also available on SPOTIFY and APPLE PODCASTS
OJAICAST SEASON 1

ABOUT OUR OJAICAST HOST 
Emily Praetorius, former Ojai Music Festival intern and Rothenberg Intern Fellow, is a current Composition DMA candidate at Columbia University. She previously studied composition and clarinet performance at the University of Redlands (BM) and composition at Manhattan School of Music (MM). She has studied with Kathryn Nevin (clarinet), Susan Botti, Georg Friedrich Haas, George Lewis, and Anthony Suter. Emily is from Ojai, CA and lives in New York City where she is a proud co-owner of Kuro Kirin Espresso & Coffee.

The 2022 Festival Music Director AMOC, a collective of today’s most adventurous musicians, singers, composers, choreographers, and dancers, is as eclectic and open minded with their musical interests as one would expect. To begin the new year and expand our own musical horizons, we asked each member of AMOC to share their personal listening of the moment — a selection which is characteristically wide-ranging and very individualistic.

Listen on Spotify and Apple Music
(Preview the AMOC playlist and log on to your account to listen to the full songs)

Jonny Allen:
Jazz Crimes by Joshua Redman
This is a track that I just keep coming back to.  The groove is subtle but persistent.  Joshua Redman is such an incredible artist and Brian Blade’s drumming has always been an inspiration to me.

Paul Appleby:
My “what I’m listening to” pick is Kate Soper’s set of three songs for soprano and string quartets, Nadja.  I am a huge fan of Kate’s music because she has a language and voice that is entirely her own.  Her intellectual and literary interested are deeply personalized in her compositions and performances and her somewhat esoteric tests become vivid and immediate in her music.  This score is a great example of Kate’s incredible level of technical accomplishment as well as her imaginative and unique approach to her art.

More info

Matthew Aucoin:
Stranger Love, Act 3 (excerpt), by Dylan Mattingly, performed by Contemporaneous
Dylan Mattingly writes music of limitless jubilance and joy. This excerpt from his opera Stranger Love is a kind of dance party for the angels, built upon an unlikely echo from a Springsteen-esque “promised land.”

Doug Balliett:
I cannot stop listening to Ok ok pt 2 from Kanye’s latest album “Donda”. It’s got a heavy dark groove and guest Shenseea’s verse is jaw-dropping.

Julia Bullock:
Up From The Skies by Jimi Hendrix, from the album Bold As Love (1967)
It’s like some prophetic, post-apocalyptic love song… (honestly hope to find a way to sing it one day)

Jay Campbell:
I’m currently listening my way through Wadada Leo Smith’s Ten Freedom Summers, a gigantic sprawling 4.5 hour collection of 19 pieces written over the course of 30+ years, each one titled after various moments, ideas, people, or places related to the Civil Rights Movement. It’s music that is very much alive in a literal sense. As in, it really feels like it is deeply meditating on the lived experience of human life itself. It’s extremely moving, exciting, surprising, and sometimes baffling. But when I listen to this highly abstract music, my ears somehow feel closer to hearing a full spectrum of complex human experience in all of its contradictions of tragedy, playfulness, rage, and joy. And maybe things that I haven’t even felt yet. And — when you consider the context of the composer himself, a Black man born and raised in segregated Mississippi — things that many of us are privileged to never have to personally feel or experience.

Anthony Roth Costanzo:
Lately I’ve become obsessed with Betty Carter and how wildly inventive and abstract she is, both in how she deploys the extremes of her voice, and how she charts the trajectory of a song. From her piercing head tones, to her forthright parlato, to her childlike upper chest register, to her impossibly rich baritone notes, I find her a total revelation. You can hear those colors set forth in this track:

Miranda Cuckson:
Wadada Leo Smith America’s National Parks
I adore this work (which I first heard a few years ago) for many reasons, including its bracing beauty, its grouping of very satisfyingly distinct utterances and instrumental presences, its continually thrilling sensations of space and texture, and the composer’s deep vision of the psychological tension in our shared natural landscapes.

Julia Eichten:
While it was an extreme challenge to choose only one song from Xenia Rubinos’ latest album, Una Rosa, Cógelo Suave has been one of many that I have on repeat.  This swirl of a song will make any day brighter, break you open and have you singing!

Emi Ferguson:

Keir GoGwilt:

Conor Hanick:
The last thing played on my music app was the first disc of Beach House’s upcoming album, Once Twice Melody, which is lush, sweeping, synthy, and grandiose.

I’ve also been enjoying Jonny Greenwood’s soundtrack to the film The Power of the Dog, especially the Messiaen-esque finale Psalm 22.

Lastly, folks are rightly excited about the recent Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders collaboration, but I’ve found myself revisiting Floating Points’ 2015 album of experimental synth-jazz, Elaenia, with a particular habit of rewinding “Silhouettes (I, II, III)”

Coleman Itzkoff:
Pick: Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice
I’ll admit to a certain degree of bias for my playlist pick, Matt being a close friend and current roommate here in New York City, but I truly felt compelled to list this new opera of his, which recently held it’s Met premiere to much acclaim. I was able to attend two live performances, as well as listen to the BBC broadcast on a recent long car trip and found so much of the music staying with me, swirling around in the back of my consciousness like the really great music tends to do. The score is dazzling, deeply moving, complex, tectonic (superlatives abound!), and the performance by Erin Morley, Joshua Hopkins, Barry Banks, and more, all backed by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Met Orchestra, is totally and utterly ravishing. For those already dedicated fans of Matt’s work, Eurydice is the latest and greatest contribution to his oeuvre (not to mention the latest in a 400-year Orphic opera tradition). And for those less familiar with the music of Matthew Aucoin, I can think of no better place to start!

More info

Or Schraiber:
Formidable by Stromae always makes me dance.

Bobbi Jene Smith:
La Solitude always makes me feel the dance inside of me. It has been a song that has been a starting point for many dances I have made. Thank you, Barbara, for haunting and dancing with me. I hope this song will make you feel the dance in you too.

Davónes Tines:
six thirty by Ariana Grande
Towards the end of the year I’m feeling cozy and romantic.  This song from one of my favorite artists, on her latest album, continues to evolve her special combination of crisp vocals wrapped in string-infused r&b redux.

Zack Winokur:
We Do Not Belong Together performed by Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin. I’ve been listening pretty nonstop to Stephen Sondheim since his death. It’s hard to choose just one, but this song is the devastating apotheosis of a genuinely real relationship at the core of Sunday in the Park with George, a show I was going to direct last spring until covid struck it down.