Dear Ojai Festival friends,
We began the summer with the sad news of the passing of Jamie Bennett, a key figure in the Festival’s recent history as both a Board member and, for five years, our President and CEO. Jamie was a treasured friend to many in our extended Festival community in both Los Angeles and Ojai, bringing the same immediacy and warmth to all, whether they were of long-standing history or recent acquaintance.
Jamie brought a wealth of professional expertise from his many years in media and non-profit management, working for organizations such as the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Disney, and CBS where his time included a term as General Manager of KCBS-TV. Jamie came to the Festival first as a Board member and then took a staff leadership role as President and CEO from 2015 until 2020, helping to navigate the complicated early days of the pandemic and that year’s online Festival. Happily, for all of us, he returned to the Board after his work as CEO and remained deeply engaged in all dimensions of the Festival’s progress. He remained active until his last days, making calls, and sending helpful notes to the end.
I first met Jamie at the beginning of my return as Artistic and Executive Director in 2020. He was extremely helpful in providing grounding and much information to get me started. He was also an extraordinary ambassador to the Festival with his natural knack for putting people together. I have numerous rewarding recent friendships that began with Jamie saying, “You should meet this person, I think you would like them.” He was right in each case. His devotion to community in both his home cities of Los Angeles and Ojai led to his generous involvement in many worthy civic organizations and causes. We will miss him.
Savoring the Festival
I have been traveling extensively for both professional and personal reasons in the weeks following the Festival, which has given me the time, distance, and perspective to reflect on our wonderful time together in June. There are so many memories and experiences that remain in such sharp focus. We can relive the Libbey Bowl concerts by way of our treasure-trove archive of livestreams on demand:
One of my favorite newer Festival traditions is that of our free Morning Meditations, which this year took place in the atmospheric Chaparral Auditorium as well as most memorably at the Ojai Meadows Preserve in an extremely happy and fruitful collaboration with the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy. My OVLC colleagues and I watched with delight as several hundred people streamed into the grove of trees with mountain panoramas as backdrop.
The morning began with Susie Ibarra’s Sunbird, originally a multi-tracked solo flute piece for Claire Chase, here specially arranged for the occasion for four players – Claire, Joshua Rubin, Michael Matsuno, and M.A. Tiesenga.
Although the complex logistics prevent livestreams of these early morning concerts, we can find some of the works on recordings by the same artists. Here is the original flute version of Sunbird for us to savor:
Sunbird By Susie Ibarra on Apple Music:
The next day, the Sunday morning meditation at Chaparral ended in a mesmerizing way with Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Sola, played by violist Leilehua Lanzilotti. Happily, Leilehua’s studio recording of the work allows all of us to hear it.
Sola By Anna Thorvaldsdottir on Apple Music:
We will continue to revisit some special moments of this past June throughout the summer even as we focus work on planning the 2026 Festival with Esa-Pekka Salonen, which will be our 80th Anniversary. Because of the June timing of the Festival, our fiscal year ends on August 31. Like so many of our colleagues in arts organizations, we are facing significant financial challenges with reductions or even elimination of arts funding in our ever-changing national landscape. We hugely thank our devoted supporters and ask those have not yet done so to consider making a gift prior to August 31 to help us close out what has been a most rewarding year artistically. We need all of you!
With much gratitude and good wishes,
Ara Guzelimian
Artistic and Executive Director