Musical Pop-Up with Shelley Burgon
Celebrating 75 Years of Music in Our Home Town!
To mark the beginning of our 75th anniversary, the Festival will give free musical offerings as a thank you to the Ojai community.
This series of surprise 20-minute Musical Pop-Ups will feature Festival collaborators – harpist Shelley Burgon, percussionist Fiona Digney, violinist Helen Kim, Kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, and flutist Laura Walter.
Please join us as we embrace the return of live music and the beginning of our celebration leading to the September Festival. View the full Musical Pop-Up schedule >
Friday, June 11
Shelley Burgon, harp
11:30am at the Fountain area at Libbey Park
5:00pm at the “Pocket Park” at the Arcade Plaza
REPERTOIRE
CAGE In a Landscape
Colorado
SHELLEY BURGON Prospect
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Shelley Burgon is a harpist, composer and sound artist who writes and performs ambient
songs for harp, voice and electronics. She has an extensive history as an improvisor and
interpreter of classical new music; performing the works of composers such as Pauline
Oliveros, John Cage, Yoko Ono, James Tenney, Berio and Earle Brown. After many years
of living in NYC where she had the pleasure to perform at renowned institutions such as the
Whitney Museum, MoMA and Issue Project Room Shelley now resides in Ojai, CA. Shelley
has recorded harp for, Bjork, Anthony Braxton, William Tyler, Roberto Lange, Miho Hatori
and for her former band Stars Like Fleas.
Her music has been commissioned by The Merce Cunningham Dance Company for the
Hudson Valley Project at the Dia Museum, Ne(x)tworks, and multimedia artist Katherine
Behar. Film credits include harpist on First Cow, Mission Blue and We Steal Secrets. She will
be releasing her first full length record this year on Thin Wrist Recordings and is working on a
harp meditation series. Visit her website at www.shelleyburgon.com
QUICK LINKS
2021 Festival Schedule >
Purchase Festival Passes >
The health and safety of our patrons is paramount to the Festival. We will be following current state and local health protocols during our events.
Musical Pop-Up with BRAVO & Laura Walter
Celebrating 75 Years of Music in Our Home Town!
To mark the beginning of our 75th anniversary, the Festival will give free musical offerings as a thank you to the Ojai community.
This series of surprise 20-minute Musical Pop-Ups will feature Festival collaborators – harpist Shelley Burgon, percussionist Fiona Digney, violinist Helen Kim, Kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, and flutist Laura Walter.
Please join us as we embrace the return of live music and the beginning of our celebration leading to the September Festival. View the full Musical Pop-Up schedule >
Saturday, June 12
Laura Walter, BRAVO education coordinator
2:00pm at Libbey Park
REPERTOIRE
DEBUSSY Syrinx
HU JIEXU Here Comes the Cuckoo
MESSIAEN Blackbird
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Laura Walter received a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from the University of Kentucky. She studied flute with various members of the Cincinnati Symphony, New York Philharmonic and the London Symphony. She serves on the faculty of Westmont College and also performs with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Opera Santa Barbara, as well as local choral societies. Laura has performed with several orchestras across the country, is active as a clinician and competition adjudicator, and has established and conducted flute choirs at colleges and festivals across the country.
In her work with students and teachers she uses the experience of interactive play to develop motivation and promote community building and conflict resolution skills. This method, called “Education Through Music”, or ETM, builds the acquisition of language and movement to enhance the imagination and stabilization of the child.
Children in ETM classes create beauty, which leads to empathy and hope, embracing the important contribution of arts education. Teachers often say, “ETM has taught these children to be kind and respectful by creating beautiful music with each other.”
Learn more about the Festival’s BRAVO program >
QUICK LINKS
2021 Festival Schedule >
Purchase Festival Passes >
The health and safety of our patrons is paramount to the Festival. We will be following current state and local health protocols during our events.
Musical Pop-Up with Fiona Digney
Celebrating 75 Years of Music in Our Home Town!
To mark the beginning of our 75th anniversary, the Festival will give free musical offerings as a thank you to the Ojai community.
This series of surprise 20-minute Musical Pop-Ups will feature Festival collaborators – harpist Shelley Burgon, percussionist Fiona Digney, violinist Helen Kim, Kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, and flutist Laura Walter.
Please join us as we embrace the return of live music and the beginning of our celebration leading to the September Festival. View the full Musical Pop-Up schedule >
Sunday, June 13
Fiona Digney, percussion
10am at Porch Gallery Ojai
11:30am at the Gazebo in Libbey Park
REPERTOIRE
CAGE I Ching
Michael GORDON XY
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Fiona Digney in an Australian-born percussionist, educator, and producer based in San Diego. Fiona has spent the last decade in the United States, The Netherlands, and London, becoming an internationally recognized percussionist with highly-profiled accomplishments across a wide range of percussive styles from experimental, improvisatory, and world music styles to orchestra, chamber, and theatrical contexts, Fiona’s thrilling performances have been described as “compelling and authoritative” by Christian Hertzog (San Diego Union-Tribune) and garnered praise from the premier music critic of the United States, Alex Ross (The New Yorker, 28th June 2018). Having recently received her doctorate in percussion performance at UCSD, exploring the decolonization of a personal performance praxis, Fiona now enjoys a wide-ranging freelance career in Southern California, where she engages in various percussive styles from experimental, improvisatory, and world music styles to orchestra, chamber, and theatrical contexts. In addition to her performance career, Fiona champions her fellow musicians through her artistic administrative roles as managing director & production manager of Art of Elan, and as producer & artistic administrator of the Ojai Music Festival.
QUICK LINKS
2021 Festival Schedule >
Purchase Festival Passes >
The health and safety of our patrons is paramount to the Festival. We will be following current state and local health protocols during our events.
Musical Pop-Up with Helen Kim
Celebrating 75 Years of Music in Our Home Town!
To mark the beginning of our 75th anniversary, the Festival will give free musical offerings as a thank you to the Ojai community.
This series of surprise 20-minute Musical Pop-Ups will feature Festival collaborators – harpist Shelley Burgon, percussionist Fiona Digney, violinist Helen Kim, Kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, and flutist Laura Walter.
Please join us as we embrace the return of live music and the beginning of our celebration leading to the September Festival. View the full Musical Pop-Up schedule >
Saturday, June 12
Helen Kim, violin
10am at Love Social Cafe (205 North Signal Street)
Repertoire
Carlos SIMON Between Two Worlds
G.P. TELEMANN Fantasia No. 10
PIAZZOLLA Tango Etude No. 3
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Violinist Helen Kim joined the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal Second Violin in 2016. A member of the Saint Louis Symphony from 2011 to 2016, she made solo appearances with that orchestra in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons. She has spent her summers teaching and performing at festivals including Aspen, Yellow Barn, Luzerne, and the Innsbrook Institute. Ms. Kim received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, where she was Presidential Scholar, and a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music.
QUICK LINKS
2021 Festival Schedule >
Purchase Festival Passes >
The health and safety of our patrons is paramount to the Festival. We will be following current state and local health protocols during our events.
Musical Pop-Up with Niloufar Shiri
Celebrating 75 Years of Music in Our Home Town!
To mark the beginning of our 75th anniversary, the Festival will give free musical offerings as a thank you to the Ojai community.
This series of surprise 20-minute Musical Pop-Ups will feature Festival collaborators – harpist Shelley Burgon, percussionist Fiona Digney, violinist Helen Kim, Kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, and flutist Laura Walter.
Please join us as we embrace the return of live music and the beginning of our celebration leading to the September Festival. View the full Musical Pop-Up schedule >
Thursday, June 10
Niloufar Shiri, kamâncheh (bowed fiddle of the Middle East and Central Asia)
11:30am at the Fountain area at Libbey Park
5:00pm at the “Pocket Park” at the Arcade Plaza
REPERTOIRE
Abolhassan Sabā Zard-e Malijeh
Avaz-e Dashti
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Niloufar Shiri is a kamancheh player and composer from Tehran, Iran, trained in Iranian classical music. Niloufar is a graduate in kamâncheh performance of the Tehran Music Conservatory and received her bachelor degree with honors in composition from UC San Diego.
She is an imaginative interpreter of Iranian music and uses story-telling and poetry as a source of inspiration for her deeply textural and often ghostly music. Her compositions use aspects of contemporary Iranian poetry to incorporate the enigmatic complexity of Iranian literature and culture.
As a kamancheh player and composer, she has received commissions and collaborated with numerous ensembles and festivals inside and outside of the United States including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Long Beach Opera, Mostly Mozart, Tehran Contemporary Music Festival, Atlas Ensemble among others. In conjunction with her studies at UC San Diego, she has also been directly studying and researching Iranian classical music with the research team of maestro Hossein Omoumi at UC Irvine and in 2012, the research received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology at UC Irvine.
QUICK LINKS
2021 Festival Schedule >
Purchase Festival Passes >
The health and safety of our patrons is paramount to the Festival. We will be following current state and local health protocols during our events.
Musical Pop-Ups Around Town
Celebrating 75 Years of Music in Our Home Town!
To mark the beginning of our 75th anniversary, the Festival will give free musical offerings as a thank you to the Ojai community.
This series of surprise 20-minute Musical Pop-Ups will feature Festival collaborators – harpist Shelley Burgon, percussionist Fiona Digney, violinist Helen Kim, Kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, and flutist Laura Walter.
Please join us as we embrace the return of live music and the beginning of our celebration leading to the September Festival.
Thursday, June 10
Niloufar Shiri, kamâncheh (bowed fiddle of the Middle East and Central Asia)
11:30am at the Fountain area at Libbey Park
5:00pm at the “Pocket Park” at the Arcade Plaza
Friday, June 11
Shelley Burgon, harp
11:30am at the Fountain area at Libbey Park
5:00pm at the “Pocket Park” at the Arcade Plaza
Saturday, June 12
Helen Kim, violin
10:00am at Love Social Cafe (205 No. Signal St)
BRAVO event with Laura Walter, flute
2:00pm at Libbey Park near the Fountain
Sunday, June 13
Fiona Digney, percussion
10:00am at Porch Gallery Ojai (310 E Matilija Street)
11:30am at Libbey Park Gazebo
The health and safety of our patrons is paramount to the Festival. We will be following current state and local health protocols during our events.
The 2021 Festival Schedule Announcement
Ojai Music Festival and Music Director John Adams
Announce Schedule for the 75th Festival — September 16 to 19, 2021
- Music Director John Adams devises a wide-ranging composer-focused festival with Samuel Adams, Timo Andres, Laurie Anderson, Anthony Cheung, Donnacha Dennehy, inti figgis-vizueta, Arturo Fuentes, Dai Fujikura, Rhiannon Giddens, Philip Glass, Alejandra Hernández, Mario Lavista, Ingram Marshall, Dylan Mattingly, Brad Mehldau, Jessie Montgomery, Nico Muhly, Gabriela Ortiz, Manuel Rocha, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Caroline Shaw, Carlos Simon, Gabriella Smith, and Paul Wiancko, alongside works by Bach, Debussy, Mozart, Rameau, and Stravinsky
- Artists making their Ojai debuts include Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, Attacca Quartet, violinist Miranda Cuckson, Chumash Elder and storyteller Julie Tumamait, and recorder player Anna Margules; Ojai welcomes the return of pianist/composer Timo Andres, the LA Phil New Music Group, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO)
- 2021 Program features the World Premieres of Sunt Lacrimae Rerum (these are the tears of things) by Dylan Mattingly and the revised version of Gabriela Ortiz’s La Calaca, along with the West Coast Premiere of Samuel Adams’ Chamber Concerto and the first concert performance of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Objets Trouvés
- The Festival will offer a free family concert for the community by Festival artists Julie Tumamait and Anna Margules in conjunction with its BRAVO education program
“The Ojai Music Festival has always done things differently with its special mix of casual manner and provocative programming. Ever since its inception in the days of Stravinsky and Copland it has stood out among music festivals for its celebration of the new. I am honored to return as Music Director, and I am eager to introduce to our audiences a new generation of composers and performers who give a glimpse of what the future of creativity in music will be. Rhiannon Giddens, Víkingur Ólafsson, Carlos Simon, Gabriella Smith, Gabriella Ortiz, and Samuel Adams are just a few among many who will give this year’s Festival a jolt of energy that will resound in the magnificent setting of the Ojai Valley. It will be a treat not to be missed.” – John Adams, 2021 Music Director
(May 26, 2021 – Ojai, California) – Ojai Music Festival 2021 Music Director John Adams and Artistic & Executive Director Ara Guzelimian today announced scheduling details for the 75th Festival, September 16 to 19, 2021. (The Festival moved this year from its traditional June time period because of the pandemic.) The Festival’s 75th anniversary year will conclude next June (June 9 to 12, 2022) with American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) serving as Music Director for the 76th Festival.
Ara Guzelimian commented, “I am overjoyed that we will gather once again to hear music in the magical setting of Libbey Bowl. As this 75th milestone year is marked, we look toward Ojai’s future by honoring the Festival’s role as a champion of a new generation of composers and artists. We respond to these immensely challenging times by placing our faith, now more than ever, in this next generation to show us the way forward. John Adams has been unwavering in his desire to focus the 75th Festival as a forward-facing exploration and adventure for artists and audiences alike. On behalf of the Festival family, I am so grateful for the support and understanding of our world-wide community through this challenging time. I cannot wait for all of us to gather in Ojai in September for the 75th Festival. It will be a most joyous reunion.”
John Adams, who is both curator and conductor for the 2021 Festival, focuses on composers of today whose music will be threaded throughout the Festival. Featured composers include Samuel Adams, Timo Andres, Laurie Anderson, Donnacha Dennehy, inti figgis-vizueta, Rhiannon Giddens, Philip Glass, Ingram Marshall, Dylan Mattingly, Brad Mehldau, Jessie Montgomery, Nico Muhly, Gabriela Ortiz, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Caroline Shaw, Carlos Simon, Gabriella Smith, and Paul Wiancko, many of whom plan to be in residence during the Festival. Mr. Adams will conduct two concerts that will include works by Debussy, Mozart, Carlos Simon, Gabriela Ortiz, Timo Andres, Gabriella Smith, Ingram Marshall, Esa-Pekka Salonen, the West Coast Premiere of Samuel Adams’ Chamber Concerto, featuring violinist Miranda Cuckson, and two of his own works featuring Rhiannon Giddens as soloist.
Making their Ojai debuts are Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, who will perform works from their latest album, They’re Calling Me Home; Ms. Giddens will collaborate in her own works with the Attacca Quartet and as vocal soloist in music of John Adams, conducted by the composer; violinist
Miranda Cuckson (who will return with AMOC as the 2022 Music Director) performing works by Kaija Saariaho, Anthony Cheung, Bach, and Dai Fujikura; recorder player Anna Margules will share a solo concert of new music for recorder and electronics from Mexico featuring composers Arturo Fuentes, Alejandra Hernández, Mario Lavista, Manuel Rocha, and Gabriela Ortiz; Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait will lead a series of events exploring the music, culture, and cosmology of the indigenous peoples of the Ojai Valley; Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson in a solo recital of works by Philip Glass, Bach, Debussy, and Rameau; and the Grammy-Award winning Attacca Quartet in a concert of music by John Adams, Rhiannon Giddens, Jessie Montgomery, Caroline Shaw, Gabriella Smith, and Paul Wiancko.
Ojai welcomes the return of Timo Andres, an Ojai alum from the 2014 Festival, performing I Still Play, a series of works by such composers as Laurie Anderson, John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, and Nico Muhly. The series of solo piano works were commissioned as a tribute to legendary Nonesuch Records President Bob Hurwitz. The recital will also include recent works by Samuel Adams and Gabriella Smith.
The Festival will honor long-standing ties with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with a concert by members of the LA Phil New Music Group featuring the world premiere of the work Sunt Lacrimae Rerum (these are the tears of things) by Dylan Mattingly. Co-commissioned by the Ojai Music Festival and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Sunt Lacrimae Rerum is scored for two harps and two de-tuned pianos. Mattingly, who composed the piece during the current pandemic, shares “…the music that I felt, the music that exists in the following pages, was ecstatic — music for dancing, the barbaric yawp, a scream of joy.”
The 2021 Ojai Festival Orchestra will be drawn from freelance artists and ensembles from Southern California and from around the US. Ojai is pleased to rely on this incredibly talented group of musicians, especially at this time when so many in this community are experiencing significant professional disruption caused by the pandemic. The 2021 Festival is also pleased to welcome back the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), last appearing in 1993 with Music Director John Adams. The combination of the 2021 Ojai Festival Orchestra, the LA Phil New Music Group, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra represents an important homecoming during this anniversary festival, celebrating the musicians and ensembles who have created the vibrant musical life of Southern California.
The 75th Festival, and future Festivals, will incorporate elements of its year-round BRAVO education program into the life of the Festival itself. This year, Ojai school children will perform alongside Festival artists in a free family concert. Julie Tumamait, the Tribal Chair of the Barbareño/Ventureńo Band of Mission Indians, will share stories, songs, and dances from the Chumash people. BRAVO education coordinator Laura Walter curates the nature-centered program, which also features a performance by Festival artist Anna Margules playing Gabriela Ortiz’ Huitzitl(the Nahuatl word for hummingbird) for solo recorder.
As Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival, composer/conductor John Adams follows violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja (2018), soprano/conductor Barbara Hannigan (2019), and Matthias Pintscher (2020). Prior to this 2021 collaboration, Mr. Adams served as Ojai’s Music Director in 1993. The 2022 Festival which bookends the Ojai Music Festival’s 75th anniversary will welcome the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) as Music Director.
For more than seven decades, the Ojai Music Festival has flourished as a creative laboratory by combining a boundless sense of adventure, an expansive musical curiosity, and an atmosphere of relaxed but focused informality. Each year a different Music Director is given the freedom and the resources to imagine four days of musical brainstorming. Ojai’s signature blend of an enchanted setting and an audience voracious in its appetite for challenge and discovery has inspired a distinguished series of musical innovators – from Boulez, Copland, and Stravinsky in its formative years to Dawn Upshaw, Vijay Iyer, and Peter Sellars in recent times – to push artistic boundaries. In announcing the appointments of John Adams and AMOC, the Festival now charts a course for its next chapters under the leadership of Artistic & Executive Director Ara Guzelimian.
Launching the Festival’s 75th Anniversary Celebration
To mark the beginning of its 75th anniversary, the Festival will offer musical activities, in accordance with state guidelines, from June to September. As a thank you to the Ojai community, the Festival will present a series of surprise musical pop-ups throughout the town of Ojai featuring Festival collaborators harpist Shelley Burgon, percussionist Fiona Digney, violinist Helen Kim, Kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, and flutist Laura Walter. Ojai will continue to connect with its global community through newly produced videos throughout the summer.Virtual Offerings
The Festival continues to offer online content with its ongoing series of virtual Ojai Talks that have featured 2021 Festival artists and composers, including Gabriela Ortiz, Carlos Simon, Miranda Cuckson, Timo Andres, and Samuel Adams. These free offerings and “What’s on your Bookshelf” videos with past Festival artists are available at OjaiFestival.org.Ojai Talks
The immersive in-person Festival experience in September will include Ojai Talks featuring Music Director John Adams, resident composers as well as a special morning talk with Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait looking at the Ojai Valley landscape in through Chumash cosmology.Remote Access to the Ojai Music Festival
The Ojai Music Festival allows the world beyond Ojai’s Libbey Bowl to experience the music and ideas expressed at the Festival through state-of-the art live streaming access during the four-day Festival and later archived at OjaiFestival.org.COVID-19 Health and Safety Planning
The health and safety of the Festival’s family of artists, audiences and community partners is paramount. To that end, the Ojai Music Festival is working closely with a COVID-safety advisory team of medical advisors, local, regional, and state officials, and public health authorities, to adhere to the highest standards of health and safety. Safety-related plans will be released and updated as details are confirmed.Religious Observance
For those observing Yom Kippur, please note that the first Festival event, an Ojai Mix – Prelude to a Festival – will begin at 9pm, two hours after sundown on September 16.Series Passes for 2021 Ojai Music Festival
2021 series subscriptions are available for purchase at OjaiFestival.org, or by reaching the box office at 805 646 2053. All current 2021 subscriptions will be honored during the September dates. Availability and venues for the Ojai Talks and Dawn and Dusk Concerts will be announced in the coming months, based on appropriate capacity guidelines issued by state and county public officials.
BIOS
John Adams, 2021 Music Director
Composer, conductor, and creative thinker – John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of music. His works stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes; his stage compositions, many in collaboration with director Peter Sellars, have transformed the genre of contemporary music theatre. Spanning more than three decades, works such as Harmonielehre, Shaker Loops, El Niño and Nixon in China are among the most performed of all contemporary classical music.
As a conductor he has led the world’s major orchestras, programming his own works with a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy to Ives, Carter and Ellington. Among his honorary doctorates are those from Yale, Harvard, Northwestern and Cambridge universities and from The Juilliard School. A provocative writer, he is author of the highly acclaimed autobiography Hallelujah Junction and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review. Since 2009 Mr. Adams has been Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Born and raised in New England, Mr. Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing age ten and his first orchestral pieces were performed while he was still a teenager. In 2017, he celebrated his 70th birthday with festivals of his music in Europe and the US, including special retrospectives at London’s Barbican, Cité de la Musique in Paris, and in Amsterdam, New York and Geneva, among other cities. In 2019 he was the recipient of both Spain’s BBVA ‘Frontiers of Knowledge’ award and Holland’s Erasmus Prize “for notable contributions to European culture, society and social science.”
Conducting highlights in 2019/20 included performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Adams made his first appearance with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in February 2020, giving the European premiere of his latest piano concerto Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? together with Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson.
Recent recordings include Grammy-nominated albums Doctor Atomic (featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers conducted by Mr. Adams, with Gerald Finley and Julia Bullock) and Scheherazade.2, a dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra written for Leila Josefowicz, as well as Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? (written for and performed by Yuja Wang, together with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel) and the Berliner Philharmoniker’s ‘John Adams Edition’, a box set comprising seven of his works, conducted by Rattle, Dudamel, Petrenko, Gilbert and Adams. The official John Adams website is www.earbox.com.
American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), 2022 Music Director
Culminating the Festival’s 75th anniversary year, Ojai’s 2022 Music Director will be American Modern Opera Company (AMOC). As described by The Boston Globe, AMOC is “a creative incubator par excellence . . . where the boundaries between disciplines go to die.” A collective of some of the most creative, forward-thinking artists, AMOC is led by its Artistic Directors composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin and director/choreographer Zack Winokur collaborating with Core Ensemble members Jonny Allen (percussion), Paul Appleby (tenor), Doug Balliett (double bass/composer), Julia Bullock (soprano), Jay Campbell (cello), Anthony Roth Costanzo (countertenor), Miranda Cuckson (violin/viola), Julia Eichten (dancer/choreographer), Emi Ferguson (flute), Keir GoGwilt (violin/writer), Conor Hanick (piano), Coleman Itzkoff (cello), Or Schraiber (dancer/choreographer), Bobbi Jene Smith (dancer/choreographer), and Davóne Tines (bass-baritone).
In addition to 2021 Festival artist Miranda Cuckson, Julia Bullock, Davóne Tines, and Jay Campbell will make a welcome return to Ojai, having participated memorably in past Festivals. Prior to AMOC, Ojai has welcomed only two ensembles as Music Director: Emerson String Quartet in 2002 and Eighth Blackbird in 2009. Initial details of AMOC’s 2022 Festival will be announced in the coming months.
Ara Guzelimian, Artistic & Executive Director
Ara Guzelimian is Artistic & Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival, beginning in that position in July 2020. The appointment culminates many years of association with the Festival, including tenures as director of the Ojai Talks at the Festival and as Artistic Director 1992-97. Ara Guzelimian stepped down as Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City in June 2020, having served in that position since 2007. At Juilliard, he worked closely with the President in overseeing the faculty, curriculum and artistic planning of the distinguished performing arts conservatory in all three of it divisions – dance, drama and music. He continues at Juilliard as Special Advisor, Office of the President.
Prior to the Juilliard appointment, he was Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall from 1998 to 2006. Mr. Guzelimian currently serves as Artistic Consultant for the Marlboro Music Festival and School in Vermont. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Music Awards, the Artistic Committee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in London, and a Board member of the Amphion and Pacific Harmony Foundations. He is also a member of the Music Visiting Committee of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.
Previously, Ara Guzelimian held the position of Artistic Administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado and he was long associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the beginning of his career, first as producer for the Orchestra’s national radio broadcasts and, subsequently, as Artistic Administrator. Mr. Guzelimian is editor of Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Pantheon Books, 2002), a collection of dialogues between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. In September 2003, Mr. Guzelimian was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.
The Ojai Music Festival
The Ojai Music Festival represents an ideal of adventurous, open-minded and open-hearted programming in the most beautiful and welcoming of settings, with audiences and artists to match its aspirations. As its 75th anniversary approaches, the Festival remains a haven for thought-provoking musical experiences, bringing together innovative artists and curious audiences in an intimate, idyllic outdoor setting. Each Festival’s narrative is guided by a different music director, whose distinctive perspectives shapes programming ensuring energized festivals year after year.
Throughout each year, the Ojai Music Festival contributes to Southern California’s cultural landscape with in-person and online Festival related programming as well as robust educational offerings that serve thousands of public-school students and seniors. The organization’s apex is the world renowned four-day Festival which takes place in early June in Ojai, a breathtaking valley only 75 miles from Los Angeles, that transforms into a platform for the fresh and unexpected. During the immersive experience, a mingling of the most curious take part in concerts, symposia, free community events, and social gatherings. Considered a highlight of the international music summer season, Ojai welcomes 7,000 patrons during the intimate Festival weekend and reaches 35 times more audiences worldwide through live and on-demand streaming of concerts and discussions.
Since its founding in 1947, the Ojai Music Festival has presented broad-ranging programs in unusual ways with an eclectic mix of new and rarely performed music, as well as refreshing juxtapositions of musical styles. Through its signature structure of the Artistic Director appointing an annual Music Director, Ojai has presented a “who’s who” of music including Vijay Iyer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and Barbara Hannigan in recent years and, throughout its history, featured artists have included Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, David Robertson, Eighth Blackbird, George Benjamin, Dawn Upshaw, Leif Ove Andsnes, Mark Morris, Jeremy Denk, Steven Schick, and Peter Sellars. Following the cancelled 74th Festival (June 11–14, 2020) with conductor and composer Matthias Pintscher, the Festival’s future with Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian begins in partnership with Ojai’s next music directors: composer/conductor John Adams as Music Director for the 75th Festival (June 10 to 13, 2021) and AMOC (American Modern Opera Company) as Music Director for the 76th Festival (June 9 to 12, 2022).
###
75th OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
September 16 – 19, 2021
Thurs, Sept 09.16.21
9pm, Libbey Bowl
Ojai Mix – Prelude to a Festival
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Amy Schroeder, violin
Nathan Schram, viola
Anna Margules, recorder
Attacca Quartet
STRAVINSKY Elegie
Gabriela ORTIZ Huitzitl
Carlos SIMON Between Worlds
Timo ANDRES Early to Rise
Dylan MATTINGLY Magnolia
Samuel ADAMS Violin Diptych
Gabriella SMITH Maré
Fri, Sept 09.17.21
8am, location TBD
Ojai Talks
Chumash stories with Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait
Fri, Sept 09.17.21
11am, Libbey Bowl
Attacca Quartet with Rhiannon Giddens
Rhiannon Giddens, vocalist
Attacca Quartet
John ADAMS Selections from Book of Alleged Dances
Paul WIANCKO Benkei’s Standing Death
Caroline SHAW Plan and Elevation
Jessie MONTGOMERY Strum
Rhiannon GIDDENS Factory Girl
Rhiannon GIDDENS Build a House
Rhiannon GIDDENS At the Purchaser’s Option
Gabriella SMITH Carrot Revolution
Fri, Sept 09.17.21
3pm-4:30pm, location TBD
OJAI TALKS
Sessions will include conversations with Music Director John Adams and Festival composers along with brief
performances
Fri, Sept 09.17.21
8pm, Libbey Bowl
John Adams conducts the Ojai Festival Orchestra
Julie Tumamait, Chumash Elder
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Timo Andres, piano
Emily Levin, harp
John Adams, conductor
Ojai Festival Orchestra
Chumash Welcome
DEBUSSY Danse sacrée et danse profane
Samuel ADAMS Chamber Concerto West Coast Premiere
Esa-Pekka SALONEN FOG
Ingram MARSHALL Flow
Timo ANDRES Running Theme
Sat, Sept 09.18.21
8am, location TBD
Ojai Dawns
Anna Margules, recorder
Mario LAVISTA Ofrenda
Gabriela ORTIZ Huitzitl
Manuel ROCHA Trama de tramas
Arturo FUENTES Toro Mariposa
Gabriela ORTIZ Canto en Soledad
Alejandra HERNÁNDEZ Veulos
Gabriela ORTIZ Canto a hanna
Sat, Sept 09.18.21
11am. Libbey Bowl
Víkingur Ólafsson in recital
Víkingur Ólafsson, piano
Music by Philip Glass, Bach, Debussy, and Rameau
Sat, Sept 09.18.21
4:30pm, location TBD
Dusk Concert
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Anthony CHEUNG Character Studies Mvnt one – Dramatis Personnae, Mvnt two – [untitled]
Dai FUJIKURA Prism Spectra
J.S. BACH D Minor Partita No.2. Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, & Gigue
Kaija SAARIAHO Frises
Sat, Sept 09.18.21
8pm, Libbey Bowl
They’re Calling Me Home
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi
Having spent the past year away from in-person concerts, Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi found themselves drawn to the music of their native and adoptive countries of America, Italy, and Ireland. The result is their latest album, They’re Calling Me Home, which speaks of the longing for the comfort of home as well as the metaphorical “call home” of death, which has been a tragic reality for so many throughout the past year.
Sun, Sept 09.19.21
8am, Libbey Bowl
I Still Play
Timo Andres, piano
Philip GLASS Evening Song No. 2
Nico MUHLY Move
Timo ANDRES Wise Words
Steve REICH For Bob
Louis ANDRIESSON Rimsky or La Monte Young
Laurie ANDERSON Song for Bob
Donnacha DENNEHY Her Wits (About Him)
Brad MEHLDAU LA Pastorale
John ADAMS I Still Play
Samuel ADAMS Impromptus
Gabriella SMITH Imaginary Pancake
Sun, Sept 09.19.21
11am, Libbey Bowl
LA Phil New Music Group
LA Phil New Music Group
Gabriela ORTIZ Rió de las Mariposas
inti figgis-vizueta To give you form and breath
John ADAMS Hallelujah Junction
Esa-Pekka SALONEN Objets Trouvés First concert performance
Dylan MATTINGLY Sunt Lacrimae Rerum (these are the tears of things) World Premiere
Sun, Sept 09.19.21
5:30pm, Libbey Bowl
Festival Finale
Rhiannon Giddens, vocalist
Víkingur Ólafsson, piano
John Adams, conductor
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO)
Carlos SIMON Fate Now Conquers
MOZART Piano Concerto in C minor, K491
John ADAMS Am I in Your Light (from Dr Atomic)
John ADAMS Consuelo’s Dream (from I was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I saw the sky)
Gabriela ORTIZ La Calaca World Premiere of revised version
Programs and artists are subject to change. As of May 26, 2021
Press contacts:
Ojai Music Festival: Gina Gutierrez, [email protected], 805 646 2181
National/International: Nikki Scandalios, [email protected], 704 340 4094
Francesco Turrisi, multi-instrumentalist
Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, Chumash Elder
ARTS MANAGEMENT INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
THE 75th OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL, SEPTEMBER 16-19, 2021
Application deadline: JUNE 15, 2021
As an intern for the Ojai Music Festival, you become a messenger for the organization’s purpose: to dare the audience to be innovative listeners of new music. – Emily Persinko, intern alum
The Ojai Music Festival’s arts management internship program is now accepting applications for the Ojai Music Festival slated for September 16 to 19, 2021 with composer and conductor John Adams as music director.
The Festival’s sought-after program provides hands-on experiences to college students as they are immersed in areas of production, administration, operations, special events, merchandising, live streaming, marketing, public relations, and patron services.
Students from varying fields and walks of life enjoy access to different opportunities which give them new skill sets and experiences that they take with them throughout their careers. The internship program also provides them to interact with leaders in the music industry and create lasting friendships with other students.
Applicants must be 18 or over and enrolled in a two or four year accredited college. The Festival provides housing for the duration of the internship as well as a stipend. Applications are due by June 1, 2021. The 75th Ojai Music Festival, September 16 to 19, will be led by composer/conductor John Adams as Music Director with a program that will honor the Festival’s role as a champion of a new generation of composers and artists. Joining John Adams will be Attacca Quartet, singer Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, violinist Miranda Cuckson, and recorder player Anna Margules, pianist/composer Timo Andres, and members of the LA Phil New Music Group. 2021 Festival composers include Samuel Adams, Timo Andres, Dylan Mattingly, Gabriela Ortiz, Rhiannon Giddens, Carlos Simon, and Gabriella Smith
For more information regarding the internship program for the Ojai Music Festival, please call the main office at 805 646 2094 or email [email protected].
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO)
Ojai Music Festival to Reschedule 2021 Festival to September 16 to 19, 2021
2021 Music Director John Adams
announces initial programming for its 75th Festival
2021 Festival composers include Samuel Carl Adams, Timo Andres, Dylan Mattingly, Gabriela Ortiz, Rhiannon Giddens, Carlos Simon, and Gabriella Smith
Artists making their Ojai debuts include Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, Attacca Quartet, violinist Miranda Cuckson, and recorder player Anna Margules; Ojai welcomes the return of pianist/composer Timo Andres and members of the LA Phil New Music Group
Program features the world premiere of Sunt Lacrimae Rerum by Dylan Mattingly along with the west coast premiere of Samuel Carl Adams’ Chamber Concerto
The Festival will offer a free concert for the community by Festival artists alongside Ojai school children in conjunction with its BRAVO education program
To commence 75th anniversary celebrations, the Festival will present a series of summer events in Ojai, around Southern California, and online beginning in June
“The Ojai Music Festival has always done things differently with its special mix of casual manner and provocative programming. Ever since its inception in the days of Stravinsky and Copland it has stood out among music festivals for its celebration of the new. I am honored to return as Music Director, and I am eager to introduce to our audiences a new generation of composers and performers who give a glimpse of what the future of creativity in music will be. Rhiannon Giddens, Víkingur Ólafsson, Carlos Simon, Gabriella Smith, Gabriella Ortiz, and Samuel Adams are just a few among many who will give this year’s Festival a jolt of energy that will resound in the magnificent setting of the Ojai Valley. It will be a treat not to be missed.” – John Adams, 2021 Music Director
(March 18, 2021 – Ojai, California)/Updated 3/18/21, 2:30pm – The Ojai Music Festival today announced plans for the upcoming Festival to take place in person from September 16 to 19, 2021. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Chair Jerry Eberhardt and Artistic & Executive Director Ara Guzelimian shared the decision to move the early summer Festival which was originally scheduled for June 10 to 13, 2021. Music Director John Adams and Ara Guzelimian also announced today initial programming and major artistic collaborators for the upcoming 75th Ojai Music Festival. Every artist planned for the original Festival dates has been able to accommodate the September dates.
Mr. Eberhardt commented, “I am very pleased to share our decision that the clear path for our reunion in Ojai is to hold this year’s Festival in September. We have developed comprehensive health and safety protocols, which we will employ in September when we gather onsite for live musical events. We feel confident that this resolution will best serve our audiences, artists and our Ojai community. On behalf of the Board, I am grateful for our global community’s patience and support, and I simply cannot wait to see you all in Ojai in September for the 75th Festival.”
Mr. Guzelimian added, “I am overjoyed that we will gather once again to hear music in the magical setting of Libbey Bowl. As this 75th milestone year is marked, we look toward Ojai’s future by honoring the Festival’s role as a champion of a new generation of composers and artists. We respond to these immensely challenging times by placing our faith, now more than ever, in this next generation to show us the way forward. John Adams has been unwavering in his desire to focus the 75th Festival on nurturing an environment of exploration and adventure for artists and audiences alike. It is an honor to launch a new era for Ojai alongside such remarkable artists and thinkers.”
John Adams, who is both curator and conductor for the 2021 Festival, focuses on composers of today whose music will be threaded throughout the Festival. Featured composers include Samuel Carl Adams, Timo Andres, Rhiannon Giddens, Dylan Mattingly, Gabriela Ortiz, Gabriella Smith, and Carlos Simon, many of whom will be in residence during the Festival. Mr. Adams will conduct two chamber orchestra concerts that will include works by Debussy and Bach, Gabriella Smith and Carlos Simon, alongside the west coast premiere of Samuel Carl Adams’ Chamber Concerto, featuring violinist Miranda Cuckson.
Making their Ojai debuts are Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi who are creating music that crosses traditions, genres and cultures; Giddens will collaborate in her own works with the Attacca Quartet and as soloist in music of John Adams, conducted by the composer; violinist Miranda Cuckson (who will return with AMOC as the 2022 Music Director) performing works by Kaija Saariaho, Anthony Cheung, Bach, and Dai Fujikura; recorder player Anna Margules will share a solo concert of new music for recorder and electronics from Mexico; Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait will lead a series of events exploring the music, culture and cosmology of the original indigenous peoples of the Ojai Valley; Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson in a solo recital of works by Philip Glass, Bach, John Adams, Debussy, and Rameau; and Grammy-Award winning Attacca Quartet in a concert of music by John Adams, Rhiannon Giddens, Jessie Montgomery, Caroline Shaw, Gabriella Smith, and Paul Wiancko.
The Festival will honor long-standing ties with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with a concert by members of the LA Phil New Music Group featuring the world premiere of the work Sunt Lacrimae Rerum (these are the tears of things) by Dylan Mattingly. Co-commissioned by the Ojai Music Festival and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Sunt Lacrimae Rerum is scored for two harps and two re-tuned pianos. Mattingly, who composed the piece during the current pandemic, shares “…the music that I felt, the music that exists in the following pages, was ecstatic — music for dancing, the barbaric yawp, a scream of joy.”
Ojai welcomes the return of Timo Andres, an Ojai alum from the 2014 Festival, performing I Still Play, a series of eleven works by such composers as Laurie Anderson, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Pat Metheny, Nico Muhly, and Randy Newman. This Ojai recital will mark the first live public performance of the complete cycle, which was commissioned as a tribute to legendary Nonesuch Records President Bob Hurwitz.
The 2021 Festival chamber orchestra will be drawn from freelance artists and ensembles from Southern California and from around the US. Ojai is pleased to rely on this incredibly talented group of musicians, especially at this time when so many in this community are experiencing significant professional disruption caused by the pandemic.
The 75th Festival and future Festivals, will integrate elements of its year-round BRAVO education program. During the Festival, Ojai school children will perform alongside Festival artists in a free community concert. In addition, featured artists and composers will hold free workshops for Ojai public school children leading up to the Festival. As Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival, composer/conductor John Adams follows violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja (2018), soprano/conductor Barbara Hannigan (2019), and Matthias Pintscher (2020). Prior to this 2021 collaboration, Mr. Adams served as Ojai’s Music Director in 1993. Mitsuko Uchida, who was previously announced to lead the 2021 Festival, asked to postpone her appointment because of scheduling conflicts and will return as Music Director for a future Festival.
Following John Adams’ 2021 Festival, American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) will serve as Music Director for the 76th Festival in 2022 (June 9-12), culminating the Festival’s 75th Anniversary year.
For more than seven decades, the Ojai Music Festival has flourished as a creative laboratory by combining a boundless sense of adventure, an expansive musical curiosity, and an atmosphere of relaxed but focused informality. Each year a different Music Director is given the freedom and the resources to imagine four days of musical brainstorming. Ojai’s signature blend of an enchanted setting and an audience voracious in its appetite for challenge and discovery has inspired a distinguished series of musical innovators – from Boulez, Copland, and Stravinsky in its formative years to Dawn Upshaw, Vijay Iyer, and Peter Sellars in recent times – to push artistic boundaries. In announcing the appointments of John Adams and AMOC, the Festival now charts a course for its next chapters under the leadership of Artistic & Executive Director Ara Guzelimian.
Launching the Festival’s 75th Anniversary Celebration
To mark the beginning of its 75th anniversary, the Festival will offer musical activities, in accordance with state guidelines, from June to September, when audiences reunite in Ojai. Musical activities throughout Southern California are being planned, and Ojai will also serve its global community through newly produced online content. Details will be announced in the coming months.
Religious Observance
For those observing Yom Kippur, please note that Festival events will begin well after sundown (7:02pm) on September 16. The full Festival calendar will be shared in coming months.
Virtual Offerings
The Festival continues to offer virtual content with its ongoing series of Ojai Talks that have featured 2021 Festival artists and composers, including Gabriela Ortiz, Carlos Simon, violinist Miranda Cuckson, and Timo Andres. Revisit these additional free offerings and “What’s on your Bookshelf” videos with past Festival artists on the website at OjaiFestival.org.
Remote Access to the Ojai Music Festival
The Ojai Music Festival allows the world beyond Ojai’s Libbey Bowl to experience the music and ideas expressed at the Festival through state-of-the art live streaming access during the four-day Festival and later archived at OjaiFestival.org.
COVID-19 Health and Safety Planning
The health and safety of the Festival’s family of artists, audiences and community partners is paramount. To that end, the Ojai Music Festival is working closely with a COVID-safety advisory team of medical advisors, local, regional and state officials, and public health authorities, to adhere to the highest standards of health and safety. Safety-related plans will be released as details are confirmed. Please contact Managing Director Gina Gutierrez with any questions.
Series Passes for 2021 Ojai Music Festival
2021 series subscriptions are available for purchase at OjaiFestival.org, or by reaching the box office at 805 646 2053. All current 2021 subscriptions will be honored during the September dates.
BIOS
John Adams, 2021 Music Director
Composer, conductor, and creative thinker – John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of music. His works stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes; his stage compositions, many in collaboration with director Peter Sellars, have transformed the genre of contemporary music theatre. Spanning more than three decades, works such as Harmonielehre, Shaker Loops, El Niño and Nixon in China are among the most performed of all contemporary classical music.
As a conductor he has led the world’s major orchestras, programming his own works with a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy to Ives, Carter and Ellington. Among his honorary doctorates are those from Yale, Harvard, Northwestern and Cambridge universities and from The Juilliard School. A provocative writer, he is author of the highly acclaimed autobiography Hallelujah Junction and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review. Since 2009 Mr. Adams has been Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Born and raised in New England, Mr. Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing age ten and his first orchestral pieces were performed while he was still a teenager. In 2017, he celebrated his 70th birthday with festivals of his music in Europe and the US, including special retrospectives at London’s Barbican, Cité de la Musique in Paris, and in Amsterdam, New York and Geneva, among other cities. In 2019 he was the recipient of both Spain’s BBVA ‘Frontiers of Knowledge’ award and Holland’s Erasmus Prize “for notable contributions to European culture, society and social science.”
Conducting highlights in 2019/20 included performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Mr. Adams made his debut in February 2020, giving the European premiere of his latest piano concerto Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? together with Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson.
Recent recordings include Grammy-nominated albums Doctor Atomic (featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers conducted by Mr. Adams, with Gerald Finley and Julia Bullock) and Scheherazade.2, a dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra written for Leila Josefowicz, as well as Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? (written for and performed by Yuja Wang, together with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel) and the Berliner Philharmoniker’s ‘John Adams Edition’, a box set comprising seven of his works, conducted by Rattle, Dudamel, Petrenko, Gilbert and Adams. The official John Adams website is www.earbox.com.
American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), 2022 Music Director (June 9-12, 2022)
Culminating the Festival’s 75th anniversary year, Ojai’s 2022 Music Director will be American Modern Opera Company (AMOC). As described by The Boston Globe, AMOC is “a creative incubator par excellence . . . where the boundaries between disciplines go to die.” A collective of some of the most creative, forward-thinking artists, AMOC is led by its Artistic Directors composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin and director/choreographer Zack Winokur collaborating with Core Ensemble members Jonny Allen (percussion), Paul Appleby (tenor), Doug Balliett (double bass/composer), Julia Bullock (soprano), Jay Campbell (cello), Anthony Roth Costanzo (countertenor), Miranda Cuckson (violin/viola), Julia Eichten (dancer/choreographer), Emi Ferguson (flute), Keir GoGwilt (violin/writer), Conor Hanick (piano), Coleman Itzkoff (cello), Or Schraiber (dancer/choreographer), Bobbi Jene Smith (dancer/choreographer), and Davóne Tines (bass-baritone).
In addition to 2021 Festival artist Miranda Cuckson, Julia Bullock, Davóne Tines, and Jay Campbell will make a welcome return to Ojai, having participated memorably in past Festivals. Prior to AMOC, Ojai has welcomed only two ensembles as Music Director: Emerson String Quartet in 2002 and Eighth Blackbird in 2009. Initial details of AMOC’s 2022 Festival will be announced in the summer of 2021.
Ara Guzelimian, Artistic & Executive Director
Ara Guzelimian is Artistic & Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival, beginning in that position in July 2020. The appointment culminates many years of association with the Festival, including tenures as director of the Ojai Talks at the Festival and as Artistic Director 1992-97.
Ara Guzelimian stepped down as Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City in June 2020, having served in that position since 2007. At Juilliard, he worked closely with the President in overseeing the faculty, curriculum and artistic planning of the distinguished performing arts conservatory in all three of its divisions – dance, drama and music. He continues at Juilliard as Special Advisor, Office of the President.
Prior to the Juilliard appointment, he was Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall from 1998 to 2006. Mr. Guzelimian currently serves as Artistic Consultant for the Marlboro Music Festival and School in Vermont. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Music Awards, the Artistic Committee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in London, and a Board member of the Amphion and Pacific Harmony Foundations. He is also a member of the Music Visiting Committee of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.
Previously, Ara Guzelimian held the position of Artistic Administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado and he was long associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the beginning of his career, first as producer for the Orchestra’s national radio broadcasts and, subsequently, as Artistic Administrator.
Mr. Guzelimian is editor of Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Pantheon Books, 2002), a collection of dialogues between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. In September 2003, Mr. Guzelimian was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.
The Ojai Music Festival
The Ojai Music Festival represents an ideal of adventurous, open-minded and open-hearted programming in the most beautiful and welcoming of settings, with audiences and artists to match its aspirations. As its 75th anniversary approaches, the Festival remains a haven for thought-provoking musical experiences, bringing together innovative artists and curious audiences in an intimate, idyllic outdoor setting. Each Festival’s narrative is guided by a different music director, whose distinctive perspectives shapes programming ensuring energized festivals year after year.
Throughout each year, the Ojai Music Festival contributes to Southern California’s cultural landscape with in-person and online Festival related programming as well as robust educational offerings that serve thousands of public school students and seniors. The organization’s apex is the world renowned four-day Festival which takes place in early June in Ojai, a breathtaking valley only 75 miles from Los Angeles, that transforms into a platform for the fresh and unexpected. During the immersive experience, a mingling of the most curious take part in concerts, symposia, free community events, and social gatherings. Considered a highlight of the international music summer season, Ojai welcomes 7,000 patrons during the intimate Festival weekend and reaches 35 times more audiences worldwide through live and on-demand streaming of concerts and discussions.
Since its founding in 1947, the Ojai Music Festival has presented broad-ranging programs in unusual ways with an eclectic mix of new and rarely performed music, as well as refreshing juxtapositions of musical styles. Through its signature structure of the Artistic Director appointing an annual Music Director, Ojai has presented a “who’s who” of music including Vijay Iyer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and Barbara Hannigan in recent years and, throughout its history, featured artists have included Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, David Robertson, Eighth Blackbird, George Benjamin, Dawn Upshaw, Leif Ove Andsnes, Mark Morris, Jeremy Denk, Steven Schick, and Peter Sellars. Following the cancelled 74th Festival (June 11–14, 2020) with conductor and composer Matthias Pintscher, the Festival’s future with Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian begins in partnership with Ojai’s next music directors: composer/conductor John Adams as Music Director for the 75th Festival (June 10 to 13, 2021) and AMOC (American Modern Opera Company) as Music Director for the 76th Festival (June 9 to 12, 2022).
###
Press contacts:
Ojai Music Festival: Gina Gutierrez, [email protected], 805 646 2181
National/International: Nikki Scandalios, [email protected], 704 340 4094
2021 Festival Update
Dear Ojai Festival friends, We are absolutely delighted to let you know that this year’s Ojai Music Festival will take place in person on September 16 – 19, 2021. We shall once again gather together in the magical setting of Libbey Bowl and the Ojai Valley to create a festival community joined in the spirit of musical discovery and celebration. In addition, we are planning …
2021 Ticket and Donation Policy
The Festival ticket policy has been that all sales are final for tickets and special events with no refunds or exchanges. However, due to these still unprecedented circumstances, the following options are available for those who have 2021 series passes.
Your 2021 series tickets will be transferred to the Festival in September. No further action is necessary. You will receive a confirmation email, and seating will occur during early summer when we begin seating assignments. We are looking forward to being with you in person at Libbey Bowl!
Choose to contribute your tickets back as a charitable gift (and receive a tax deduction for the total ticket value). Your generous support is vital in helping the Ojai Music Festival to sustain the organization during challenging moments such as this one. We couldn’t do what we do without you. Your donation is fully tax deductible. Or, apply your ticket donations to our Ticket Fund for Essential Workers. To donate, please email Joy Kimura or Anna Wagner.
Place the value of your tickets on your account, to be used toward your 2022 Festival ticket purchases. If you would like to roll-forward your 2021 passes to 2022, please let us know by April 12, 2021. If we have not heard from you, we will send you a tax-deductible receipt for your donation. The 2022 Festival is slated for June 9 to 12 2022, with AMOC.
You may request a refund. Please email Bryan Lane at [email protected] by April 12, 2021. Please note that ticket refunds may take up to 60 days to fulfill.
For personalized service, contact Bryan Lane at 805 646 2053 or Anna Wagner at 805 646 3178, Monday through Friday, 10am-5pm. We expect a high volume of calls, and we thank you for your patience. Our team continues to telework and will do our best to respond quickly to your calls.
******
Support Your Ojai Music Festival
To help with the serious financial impact on the Ojai Music Festival, donors can choose to contribute their series tickets back as a charitable gift (and receive a tax deduction for the total ticket value). Your tax-deductible donation today ensures that the Festival will continue to move forward into the future as we look forward to celebrating our 75th Festival in September 2021.
Rhiannon Giddens, composer/musician
Music Van Arrives!
Music Van is one of our most favorite activities that encourages students to try out musical instruments. This year, Music Van will go virtual, thanks to our collaboration with the Santa Barbara Symphony.
Ojai school children will be introduced to the instrument family in a new digital way. To supplement this virtual version, our very own BRAVO Committee has put together short videos to show just how much fun it can be to play an instrument. Special thanks to several local students who helped demonstrate!
Special thanks to our community partners for supporting our BRAVO programs!
Ojai Women’s Fund
Alice C. Tyler Perpetual Trust
John and Beverly Stauffer Foundation
City of Ojai
Montecito Bank and Trust
From Ojai with Love featuring Julie Smith Phillips
A musical gift from the Ojai Music Festival: harpist and 2021 Festival artist Julie Smith Phillips performs a movement from Tree Suite for solo harp by Hannah Lash. Enjoy!
Fall & Spring: Song & Play
We continue our learning even in the virtual world! Working with the Ojai Unified School District, the Ojai Music Festival’s BRAVO education & community program offers online classes with Ms. Laura.
Special thanks to the Ojai Festival Women’s Committee for their ongoing support for BRAVO, and to the Ojai Women’s Fund for their generous donation during the FY2022-2023 school year!
Click the tabs below to watch our Song & Play lessons.
- LESSON 9 | 08.27.20
- LESSON 10 | 9.3.20
- LESSON 11 | 10.01.20
- LESSON 12 | 11.05.20
- LESSON 13 | 12.03.20
- LESSON 14 | 01.07.21
- LESSON 15 | 02.04.21
- LESSON 16 | 03.04.21
- LESSON 17 | 04.08.21
- LESSON 18 | 05.06.21
- LESSON 19 | 06.03.21
LESSON 9 | 08.27.20
HERE WE ARE TOGETHER
Our first day back, and it’s so glorious to be together, even though it can only be virtually for now! We are going to set ourselves up to be the most successful we can be, through singing and playing, and starting to learn each other’s names. How important is a name? It is how we are known. It is an avenue for attachment. It leads us into community.
HOT CROSS BUNS, THE STORY
This song is often the first experience children have playing on an instrument. We approach this folk song through a story. Why did people not make signs to advertise what they were selling? How did people sweeten their food 1,000 years ago? What was the importance of singing in the streets? We also add the hand signs for the music notes.
CLICKETY CLACK
Movement causes our attention systems to click on. Adding movements helps lower distractibility. When we create a train somewhere and move to it, our brain kicks into participation. Participating physically in a basic way is a direct route to play. When we couple the movements with the words (notice the syllables in the fingers), we move the student into stabilization, and the emergence of intelligence.
LESSON 10 | 9.3.20
This week’s play involves the balance between repetition and variation.
TIDEO
The brain loves repetition. Up to a point. It looks for patterns. Then it delights when there is novelty, something different. Balancing these two helps to stabilize a child’s emotional state. The song stays the same. It is predictable. The fingers popping up are a surprise. Looking for a Hot Cross Buns pattern is always fun!
LESSON 11 | 10.01.20
Taking a look at proprioception, puzzling, and the playfulness of Mozart.
WHEN I WAS ONE
One thing that children need is tons of proprioceptive input. This is how they orient themselves to the world—jumping, skipping, stomping, spinning. They develop their spatial awareness, both of themselves and their environment. This song is a great way to play with rhyming words, and get the body up and moving.
SOMEONE’S WEARING
Here’s a fun way to connect visual art and music. When we are together we sing about someone’s clothing. Sometimes the clue is very hard to spot, but an amazing thing happens; the children become focused on each other in a positive way, hoping they can find who is wearing, for instance—”unicorns”, or “something delicious”. This positive social regard for other is important for gathering in community and building the tools of empathy.
MOZART CUCKOO CANON
Have you ever wondered where Mozart got his sense of playfulness? Here is the first stage of learning his “Cuckoo Canon”. When we sing it in a round, using the hand signs, there is a wonderful symbiosis of challenge, skill and the delight in doing it. And we can hear the cuckoo bird. Genuine play has a characteristic of being autotelic—doing it for its own sake. It is so joyful to feel this!
LESSON 12 | 11.05.20
FARMER IN THE DELL – TRACKS FOR READING
Using a secret song triggers the brain’s memory and recall. The brain looks for an auditory match. It searches previous experiences and pictures it has made, based on our play of this game. We represent the song by acting it out in the classroom. Here is an extension of that—new verses to explore rhyming and phrasing patterns. The prosody of our language is reflected in our songs, and this assists with the development of language and listening skills.
SEE SAW
This folk song has a rich history, being used by lumberjacks who were using a saw together. They would sing the song to keep their sawing movements in sync. It is about an apprenticeship relationship, when there were master electricians and plumbers, etc. that would take on a young person to learn the trade. I think poor Jack liked to goof off, to which we can all relate! True to its nature, this song sung by a room of children and adults cause the group to sync together, matching awareness, skills, and action.
COME GOOD RAIN
We are learning to use the sign language symbols for this song. Children share why the rain is good. Being interested in nature, and the cycles of rain, growth, and plants is good for all of us to remember. Later on in school, this is a beautiful song to sing in canon, and as a partner song that goes with other songs. But first, we explore its meaning.
LESSON 13 | 12.03.20
HOP OLD SQUIRREL
This week we explore the importance of the proprioceptive system, and listening for accents and syllables. The most distinguishing characteristic of a piece of music is its rhythm, so we play with that.
RIG A JIG
This old jig from the British Isles enacts the joy of a chance meeting with a friend. Going for a walk and seeing someone you know can be an experience of amazement for a child. Especially when they see others from school out in the community. This song works to preserve that delight.
OH I KNOW SOMEONE
Learning to hear the accented and unaccented parts of speech and music are key to comprehension. Children love exploring syllables, both in their own names, and those of their friends. Sometimes they love when we make it harder just to see if we can get the flow of the number of syllables, the correct accents, and all at the normal speed of speech. It’s a fun challenge.
NOTE OF THE DAY
We spend most of our time singing songs, acting out the words, and exploring the sounds auditorily. This is referred to as procedural learning. The declarative process of learning note names can be done very quickly and is an addendum to our weekly lessons focused on play.
LESSON 14 | 01.07.21
Exploring sounds and symbols leads to increased literacy. And we have a science experiment with song!
WINDY WEATHER
We are excited about science, and pairing science with music. Sound vibrations are fun to study from a science perspective also. Watching how different leaves blow in the wind is curiously relaxing. It’s fun to make predictions.
LETTER POEMS
Children delight in challenges of object permanence, as well as searching for objects. This satisfies the brain’s natural tendency to look for patterns in nature (is that a saber-tooth tiger hiding in those bushes?). When we play this in class, one person drops the letter behind someone while we sing with our eyes closed. We love watching the face of the person who finds the letter, and gets to chase the other person. So joyful! Poems by Shel Silverstein.
ROW, ROW
Someday soon we will be singing this favorite in a round. At summer camp, we have groups of children acting out their own boats together, and see how they move across the floor. Then we have them come up with their own words to extend the drama. Imagination builds intelligence!
SECRET SONG
Once we have played a song many times, we can start to look at the rhythm. Rather than explaining right off the bat, we explore. How do these symbols function? These lines are just arbitrary signs that have developed into symbols in music for the speed of notes. Interpreting written symbols by having a sound for them is what reading is all about. Since the children know the song, they can search their memories for an auditory match. Doing is stronger than telling. By singing the solfège, we start to understand the relationships between notes.
LESSON 15 | 02.04.21
A symbol is a symbol only if it makes present again that for which it stands. We are playing with sound experiences.
Sally Go Round
When objects can stand for other objects, we are engaging the imagination. Eventually, abstract symbols, such as letters, which make up words, can stand for objects. While playing with these ideas, the children are learning a lot of folk songs that accurately carry the prosody of the English language.
Note of the Day—F
In class the children take turns whispering their guess to me. The room gets very quiet, except that we all start laughing about how quiet we just got!
Roly Poly Tracks
Rhyming helps our auditory system develop, and the auditory system is of primary importance for reading, either music, or language. In this way, studying and singing music helps the brain develop structures for greater academic success.
Penny solfege
Another symbol used in representing sound is solfege. This is the do, re, mi, fa, so, la, and ti of the scale. In our classes, we sing the solfege, explore the difference in sounds, and read the solfege after we have already experienced it. The song and sound need to be represented in our bodies and physically experienced, before seeing the symbols. This leads to a robust learning experience.
LESSON 16 | 03.04.21
Repetition and variation are the two spices of music mastery. We set up an environment where the students ask if we can do it again. This is internal motivation at its finest!
Fly Away
I had some birds outside my window, so I sang for them. The melody of this song goes up, and then it goes down. And our bird follows the melody by going up, and then coming back down to the nest. It’s so important to have a comfortable nest.
Here We Are Together
We not only talk about community; we sing about it. Our actions with our students and families show it. These pro-social skills help to build a safe environment of inclusion and acceptance. Our hands are singing the “do” and “so” of the song, too!
Clickety Clack
Children love the predictability of making different movements that correspond to distinct sounds. This helps us practice, by repeating the experience to achieve mastery. Changing the motions provides the variation that the brain needs to stay engaged. The brain is always looking for patterns, and novelty.
LESSON 17 | 04.08.21
Play is one the greatest equalizers we have in society. When we play together, we are equal participants; no child or adult has any advantage over any other. People who have play experiences together are much less likely to lash out at their peer, but rather work to come to a resolution. Our games feature many opportunities for partnership and collaboration, as we get to practice listening to all ideas and negotiating solutions.
Bombalalom
This song comes from the deep south of Brazil and means “our place of peace”. Sharing our peaceful place builds attachment to our community, because it is something very personal about us, and we want to be known. The beauty of this song when sung in a round, or with other partner songs, or with its descant, helps us to appreciate each other.
Ginger Snap
Eventually, we have a room full of people with wings extended, trying to fly around the room. We bow to our partner, modeling respect. When we “take them by the shoulders”, all the children quickly organize themselves into a line (all by themselves!) to fly together. We have our own flock then!
Sally Go Round, rhythm, solfa
When puzzling over a secret song, the brain is looking through its memory banks for an auditory match. Sometimes a part of the rhythmic sound sparks a word, or a movement that we have previously done. The cross lateral indexing of the modalities of learning is one thing that gets dendrites branching. Building the experience to singing only one of solfa syllables out loud engages the skill of picking out the figure from the auditory ground, a skill so necessary in reading and paying attention.
LESSON 18 | 05.06.21
Today we have some experiences of kindness, acceptance, and integrity through music.
Note of the Day—A
Music is such an abstract language, but isn’t all written language? Once we make sense of it, we are all set. Once we sing it, it becomes concrete. Children love to explore the relationships between notes: in how they sound, in what they look like, and with the hand signs. That is why we sing a lot before we read music, just as we speak before we read. Emerging intelligence needs to hear it first, then see it.
Mulberry Bush
The integration of learning modalities happens when our actions line up with our words. Here I suggest actions that the children will know about, but maybe haven’t had direct experience of, such as throwing a snowball (coastal California!), or petting an iguana. Setting down this template in the brain, of matching language with movement, lays the foundation for integrity. We are doing what we say.
Love Canon, 4 parts
One of the great joys of singing together is singing in canon. Once the children know the song automatically, without needing to use up a lot of attention and focus to enjoy it, they are ready for singing in a canon. The harmonies in this song are wonderfully pleasing. The children are so happy to create such a thing of beauty. Harmony is naturally produced through the melody. They can own it, because they produced it themselves.
Make New Friends in Different Languages
Singing together helps us understand who and what we are. We are in a season of hope (at least, we hope we are!), embracing our common humanity. People from around the world are looking forward to coming together to greet old friends and to meet new friends. We embrace people and extend the hand of welcome. We can’t wait to get to know you better.
LESSON 19 | 06.03.21
Play is to intelligence as breath is to life. If we make our interactions with children joyful and filled with beauty, they will want to come back and do it again.
Row Row
Penny Song
Windy Weather Rhythm
Tallis Canon