Executive Director Janneke Straub joined the Festival in January 2014. She sat down to share a bit about herself and her vision for the Festival’s upcoming years.

You have an interesting background…tell us a bit about yourself:
I grew up in France, living in Nice and Paris, going to all kinds of festivals – my parents are mostly into new music and baroque music (not orchestral music and opera). They also love modern sculptures, contemporary architecture, and medieval art. They still travel to nurture these passions. In Nice, I lived next to the Matisse Museum, the arenas, and the world-class Nice Jazz Festival. During this one week festival, bands performed on three different stages and changed every hour from 5:30pm to 10:30pm. Guest artists included both the most famous and the up-and-coming like Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and Stephane Grappelli.

And you became involved with music festivals from an early age?
While in middle and high school, my parents encouraged me to attend summer academies in the most beautiful festival settings. My favorite was the Pablo Casals Festival nestled in a small village, Prades in the Pyrenees, near the Spanish border, where cellist Pablo Casals lived during Franco’s regime. Casals interrupted his international career, left his beloved country and refused to perform in protest. His musician friends and fans finally convinced him to celebrate the bicentennial of Johann Sebastian Bach with them in 1950 after 12 years of silence. That’s how this chamber music festival started.

As a young student at the International Pablo Casals Academy, I would practice, and play chamber music, then get all dressed up and go to the concerts in the late afternoon and evening. Most of the concerts took place in the parish church and in the Abbey of Saint Michel de Cuixa with its pink marble cloister built in the 11^th century. The three monks who lived in this reclusive sanctuary kept an eye on us (no tank tops, shorts, etc).

After I left Nice to pursue my studies at the University in Paris, I needed a summer job and the Artistic Director of the festival, Michel Lethiec, invited me back to work in production. I returned to work at the festival every August for seven consecutive years, until I moved to the United States in 1996.

What I love most about festivals is that you put your everyday life aside, and the focus is 100% on music. Beautiful settings have a major effect on us. You feel completely open and focused on the present and what you are about to experience.

What was your first job in the US?
I worked for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at a time when the organization completely re-invented itself and became a model orchestra for the 21^st century.  I learned about fund development during the capital campaign [to build Walt Disney Concert Hall], the opening celebrations, and the first five  years in Disney Hall, when Esa-Pekka Salonen was Music Director. Frank Gehry’s vision was to build a living room for the city. No one on staff, other than [President] Deborah Borda, had opened a new hall before. From one year to the next, the LA Philharmonic Association doubled the number of concerts that it presented from approximately 80 in 2002 to 150 in 2003.  What I experienced during those 13 years was so unique: we, the staff, had this extraordinary chance to stretch our minds and work as a team to make this transformation happen.

What was your next big career move?
In October 2008, I left the LA Philharmonic to become the Executive Director of the American Youth Symphony, which is a training ground for exceptionally talented college level musicians. Access to this 105-member orchestra is based on merit only. There is no tuition, no fees to audition; only vibrant music making. The challenge was to turn this traditional orchestra into the powerful and trend-setting organization that it is today.

And now you’re in Ojai at the Festival! What are you most excited about?
I am excited to work with Artistic Director Tom Morris. We share this desire to reinvent the Festival, and ourselves, every year – a love of exploration and new ground. Our work is about creating a stimulating environment for the audience and for world-class artists. It’s about engaging a community into the process of creation.

I’d like to work closely with the Ojai community to make sure the work we do impacts the community in a stronger way. In my mind, this Festival is flourishing because it is rooted here, in a beautiful community and a spectacular natural setting.

I’d like every aspect of the Festival to be cutting-edge; the experiences you gather in Ojai are exceptional, ear-opening, inspiring, and fun. I’d like our guests to feel the way you feel when you visit an exhibition and discover something new and completely unexpected that opens the door to a new world to explore.

Did you ever think that you’d be running your own Festival?
When I was about 22 years old, I had a dream and thought: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I ran my own festival, one-day?“ And here I am!

You can contact Janneke at 805 646 2094 or [email protected] .

The Festival recently announced upcoming Music Directors for the next three years – Steven Schick, Peter Sellars, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Despite their different backgrounds and wide interests, the three share a common, strong bond with southern California, as well as a history of past Festival appearances. Explore some recent – and not so recent – photos of Steve, Peter, and Esa-Pekka out of our archives in the slideshow below.

On November 9, the Festival held its Annual Meeting in Libbey Bowl. Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris shared programming details for the 2014 Festival with Jeremy Denk and the organization announced the appointment of its new Executive Director, Janneke Straub.

View photos from the meeting and the surprise ETM flashmob with BRAVO! students  at its conclusion below:

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Thank you to all the BRAVO! students who volunteered their time for the Annual Meeting and to all the attendees for their steadfast support of the Festival.

Scott Reed and NancyBell Coe have been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Ojai Music Festival for three-year terms, announced Ojai’s board president Stephen (Mike) J.M. Morris at the recent Festival annual meeting held in Ojai. Both Mr. Reed and Ms. Coe are Santa Barbara residents with significant experience in the performing arts field. Mr. Reed is the president of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and Ms. Coe retired from that same position in 2010.

At the meeting, Mr. Mike Morris also recognized outgoing board members Jet Doye, Ron Phillips, Alan Rains, Esther Wachtell, and Stuart Meiklejohn, who served as board president between 2012-2013. He also welcomed the Festival’s new executive director Janneke Straub, who will begin her tenure in January 2014. Ms. Straub is currently the executive director at the American Youth Symphony in Los Angeles.

NancyBell Coe
NancyBell Coe retired as President of Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West in August 2010. She came to the Music Academy in 2004, after several years as artistic administrator at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Her long career in the performing arts industry includes the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Spokane Symphony in Washington. She was on the Ojai Music Festival Board of Directors from 2004-2010. NancyBell is active in the Santa Barbara community, where she serves as one of three co-trustees of iCAN, the Incredible Children’s Art Network and as a board member for the Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara, Inc. (CAMA). Additionally, she is a member of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras and New Music USA (New York). She further serves on the Board of Overseers at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music from Wellesley College, Phi Beta Kappa.

Scott Reed
Having begun his career at the Music Academy of the West as an unpaid intern in 1997, Scott Reed became only the fourth president in the history of the renowned classical music institution in August 2010. Immediately prior to his appointment, Mr. Reed served as vice president for institutional advancement at the Music Academy for five years. He came to the latter position via the San Francisco Opera, where he worked as associate director of development for nearly two years. While in San Francisco, he also served as a consultant for the St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation.

Following his stint as a college intern, Mr. Reed worked for the Music Academy from 1997 to 2004 as coordinator of alumni and student affairs, major gifts officer, and executive manager of the long-range facility upgrade campaign and permit entitlement process. During this time he was instrumental in the development of several initiatives, including the Academy’s innovative Compeer Program, which pairs fellows with donors and other Santa Barbara community members for informal social events throughout the summer season.

Mr. Reed earned his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Musical America announced their 2014 award recipients today, and among them were two Ojai music directors: conductor/composer George Benjamin and pianist Jeremy Denk.

George Benjamin, music director of the 2010 Festival, was awarded Composer of the Year. Benjamin brought his opera Into the Little Hill to Ojai audiences in 2010 and Musical America highlighted his 2012 opera, Written on Skin, as “at once exquisitely wrought and devastatingly raw.”  Written on Skin has received almost 40 performances internationally to date and had its US premiere in August at Tanglewood – a music stream of the performances is available from New York’s WQXR Q2.

Jeremy Denk, who will serve as music director of the 2014 Festival, received the Instrumentalist of the Year award. As Musical America wrote, “His flourishing concert schedule, the second release in his Nonesuch recording contract (Bach’s Goldberg Variations), his widely read blog called “Think Denk,” and articles for the New Yorker, which led to a Random House book commission, attest to his multi-faceted artistry.” Denk is in the process of creating an opera of his own, The Classical Style, based on Charles Rosen’s work of musical analysis, which will feature music by Steven Stucky.

The Musical America awards rank among classical music’s highest honors, and will be presented by the performing arts resource at its annual ceremony on December 17 at Lincoln Center.

The Ojai Music Festival congratulates both George and Benjamin on their achievements – and hopes that this will be another in a line of many for both!

Read more on the Musical America website >>

The Ojai Music Festival will welcome back patrons at our annual gathering, which will be scheduled later in the fall.

The plans will include a sneak peek of the upcoming 68th Festival (June 12-15, 2014) plus share updates on the BRAVO! education program.

We are so excited that Andrew Norman will be returning to the west coast as a member of USC’s Thornton School of Music faculty and as Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Composer in Residence.

The 2014 Festival (June 12-15) led by Music Director Jeremy Denk will include works by Norman.

Read the full LA Times article by Mark Swed here >>

“In recent years, Norman has worked with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as its composer in residence. He studied at USC and Yale University before embarking on his professional composing career.
Norman was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in music for his piece ‘The Companion Guide to Rome.'”

Timo Andres’s Home Stretch out on Nonesuch July 30

Timo Andres, piano
Metropolis Ensemble
Andrew Cyr, conductor

ANDRES: Home Stretch

MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 26 in D, “Coronation” (Completed by Andres)

ANDRES: Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno

NPR Music: “First Listen” streams Home Stretch in its entirety this week.

Click here for the stream.

On Timo Andres’s upcoming Nonesuch album, Home Stretch (July 30, 2013), he performs with Andrew Cyr and the Metropolis Ensemble, pairing the title work with two reinventions of works by musical heroes Mozart and Brian Eno: Mozart’s “Coronation” concerto andParaphrase on Themes of Brian Eno. Album pre-orders are available now at nonesuch.com and include an exclusive print of the first page of the Home Stretchscore, autographed by the composer. To celebrate the release, Andres, artist and book designer Peter Mendelsund and the New Yorker’s Leo Carey will host a conversation about artistic influence. The event will be held at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe on July 30 at 7:00 PM, and is free. Andres will perform music from the record, including his own work and pieces by Brian Eno and Mozart.

Home Stretch was written for pianist David Kaplan and was conceived as a companion piece to Mozart’s Piano Concerto, No. 12, K. 414. Andres wanted the piece to reflect his friend Kaplan’s personality. Andres notes, “I knew I wanted Home Stretch to have something to do with fast cars, which David is obsessively interested in. The piece is in three large sections that gradually accelerate: beginning in almost total stasis, working up to an off-kilter dance with stabbing accents and ushering in a sturm-und-drang cadenza that riles itself up into a perpetual-motion race to the finish. However, there are always little ‘smudges’ of music from each section in the others, sometimes fitting into their new context, sometimes balefully interrupting.”

Also on the album is Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 26 in D, “Coronation,” completed by Andres. A virtuosic improviser, Mozart left much of the solo part unwritten as he expected to play the piece himself. In particular, the left hand is mostly absent from the original manuscript. Pianists generally play from a completed score that adds simple accompaniment patterns and harmonies for the left hand, but Andres’s treatment of the concerto takes a wholly different approach. He inserts his own voice into the left hand and ends the work with newly written cadenzas. He explains, “I approached the piece not from a scholarly or editorial perspective, but more as a sprawling playground for pianistic invention and virtuosity, taking cues from the composer-pianist tradition Mozart helped to crystallize.” The New Yorker’s Alex Ross wrote on his blog that the result is “mesmerizing.”

The recording ends with Andres’s Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno. Already an influential force in popular music history, Brian Eno is increasingly gaining recognition from classical composers. As Andres writes, Eno is a composer with “two quite distinct sides: as an innovator who works in ambient and collage music, and as a quirky and crafty pop songwriter. It’s all interesting, but the really amazing things happen when these musical personalities overlap and wear away each other’s surfaces.” In Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno, Andres focuses on Eno’s albums Before and After Science and Another Green World. He builds what he terms, “a nineteenth century style ‘orchestral paraphrase’ on the subject of Eno’s music.”

Home Stretch was recorded at Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood and was produced by David Frost. It is Andres’s second album with the Nonesuch label; his first, Shy and Mighty, was praised by the New York Times for its “inventiveness and originality,” and by the Guardian for the way it “glides across stylistic boundaries in a totally unselfconscious way.”

Timo Andres is a composer and pianist who grew up in rural Connecticut and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. His debut album, Shy and Mighty, which features 10 interrelated pieces for two pianos, performed by Andres and pianist David Kaplan, was released by Nonesuch Records in May 2010 to critical acclaim. Alex Ross wrote in the New Yorker that Shy and Mighty “achieves an unhurried grandeur that has rarely been felt in American music since John Adams came on the scene… more mighty than shy, [Andres] sounds like himself.” In the current season, Andres plays a solo recital of his own works alongside those by Chopin, Thomas Adès and Schumann for Lincoln Center’s Great Performers; a solo recital for San Francisco Performances, and a duo program with Gabriel Kahane for the Library of Congress. Commissions include a new piano quintet written for Jonathan Biss and the Elias String Quartet, presented by Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and San Francisco Performances; a solo piano work for Kirill Gerstein commissioned by the Gilmore Foundation, and a new string quartet for the Library of Congress, to be premiered by The Attacca Quartet.

Leo Carey is a Senior Editor at the New Yorker magazine, where he has worked for 15 years. He was born in Oxford, England and studied English Literature at Oxford University. As an editor at the New Yorker, he has worked on a wide range of non-fiction. His own writings have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Times Literary Supplement. In his spare time he plays the piano and cello.

Peter Mendelsund is the Associate Art Director of Alfred A. Knopf Books, the Art Director of Pantheon Books and Art Director of Vertical Press (and a recovering classical pianist). His designs have been described by the Wall Street Journal as being “the most instantly recognizable and iconic book covers in contemporary fiction.” His writing on literature, design and other matters can be found on his blog: jacketmechanical.blogspot.com. A book of his design work and writing, Cover, comes out Spring 2014.

New York-based Metropolis Ensemble is a Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra dedicated to classical music in its most contemporary forms.

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe is one of downtown New York’s most vital cultural institutions, presenting an eclectic mix of events — from readings and concerts to comedy nights and storytelling competitions -– featuring many of today’s most exciting artists. The bookstore is staffed almost entirely by volunteers and 100 percent of its profits go to Housing Works, Inc., which provides housing, healthcare, job training, and advocacy for New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS. As an independent cultural center, it offers patrons a unique opportunity to join the fight against AIDS and homelessness simply by buying or donating books; eating at the cafe; coming to concerts, readings, and special events; or volunteering on their staff.

The Ojai Music Festival is deeply saddened by the passing of one of its longest-serving staff members and volunteers, Betty Izant on July 4, 2013. Betty was a part of the Festival for more than 40 years, joining the office in 1969 as secretary. This soon became a full time position and led to her life-long involvement with the organization as secretary, manager, board member, box office manager, and historian.

Betty was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She lived in Corning, New York before moving to Los Angeles, graduating from Hollywood High School. She attended UCLA and Frank Wiggins Trade School, where she majored in dress making and design. She worked as a dress designer for Mable Morrow and as Executive Secretary for the Huntington Hartford Foundation, a residence for writers, artists and composers until 1965.

Upon the Foundation’s closure, Betty moved to Ojai, where she served as assistant to the director of Happy Valley School (now Besant Hill) for two years. She spent time as a freelance secretary before joining the Ojai Music Festival in 1969. She officially “retired” in 1984, but stayed on as a volunteer to assist with ticket sales until 2011.

Betty’s lifelong commitment to the Festival was an essential part of making the organization what it is today. From overseeing numerous transitions in the 1970s and 1980s to her keen memory for patrons (and their seats!), which made ticketbuying a uniquely personal experience that continues to this day, Betty’s devotion to the Festival and its mission imbued each task she undertook . Her indomitable spirit and steadfast dedication will be greatly missed by all of us here at the Festival, and by the Ojai community at large.

Photo taken by the Ventura County Star.