2025 Festival Schedule
The Ojai Music Festival welcomes as Music Director one of today’s most vital artists, Claire Chase. The 79th edition celebrates collaboration and dialogue across multiple generations of composers and performers, including four World Premieres of works by Susie Ibarra, Tania León, Terry Riley and Bahar Royaee; the US Premiere of Liza Lim’s Cardamom; eight West Coast Premieres; residencies by Tania León, Annea Lockwood, Liza Lim, Craig Taborn, Susie Ibarra, Leilehua Lanzilotti, and Marcos Balter; and seminal works by John Coltrane, Julius Eastman, Sofia Gubaidulina, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and more
This symbol indicates that this is a Beyond the Bowl event, not located at Libbey Bowl. Due to the intimate setting of these events, they are not automatically included in Libbey Bowl Passes and may require the purchase of an additional ticket.
This symbol indicates that this is a free event, no ticket or RSVP required.
Programs and artists are subject to change. Schedule as of April, 2025.
THU 06|05
3:00PM OJAI TALKS
Ojai Presbyterian Church
Part I Music Director Claire Chase with Ara Guzelimian
Part II 2025 Composers and Artists with John Schaefer
Automatically included in 4-Day Libbey Bowl Passes, available for purchase as an add-on.
8:00PM PAN
Libbey Bowl
Claire Chase, flute | Wu Wei, sheng | M.A. Tiesenga, electronic hurdy-gurdy | Susie Ibarra and Steven Schick, percussion | Festival Artists
Marcos BALTER Alone
Annea LOCKWOOD bayou-borne
Marcos BALTER Pan
A festive opening night with Annea Lockwood’s Bayou-Borne, an affectionate tribute to Pauline Oliveros, then culminating in Marcos Balter’s Pan, an already iconic work from Claire Chase’s epic Density 2036 project. Pan is a deeply affecting work that explores the life and death of the mythical Greek goat-god Pan, written for flute, electronics, and a community of musicians, telling the tale of this weaver of melodies and a guardian of the wilderness – true to the Ojai spirit!
FRI 06|06
8:00AM OJAI DAWNS
Zalk Theater, Beasant Hill School
Liza LIM Cardamom (US Premiere)
Eduardo AGUILAR HYPER (West Coast premiere)
Tania LEÓN Abanico
Vicente ATRIA Roundabout (West Coast premiere)
Early morning program featuring JACK Quartet with works by Tania León, Liza Lim, and two exciting emerging composers, Vicente Atria and Eduardo Aguilar.
Member Circle donors have first access to tickets. Click here to learn more.
10:30AM PULSING LIFTERS
Libbey Bowl
Alex Peh, harpsichord & keyboard | Cory Smythe and Craig Taborn, piano & keyboards
Terry RILEY Pulsing Lifters (World premiere of new trio arrangement by Alex Peh)
Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Impressions
John COLTRANE/Cory SMYTHE Countdowns
Craig TABORN + Cory SMYTHE Duo Improvisation for Ojai
A program of works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Cory Smythe, and Craig Taborn that celebrates the old made new in Thorvaldsdottir’s Impressions for harpsichord as well as a summit meeting between two dazzlingly inventive composer/pianists whose worlds encompass jazz, new music, and beyond.
1:00PM OJAI FILMS
Ojai Playhouse
32 Sounds Film by Sam Green
3:30PM OJAI AFTERNOONS
Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
Claire Chase, flute | Levy Lorenzo, electronics | Nicholas Houfek, lighting
Liza LIM Sex Magic (West Coast premiere)
In its West Coast premiere, Australian composer Liza Lim’s Density 2036 contribution Sex Magic for solo contrabass flute and electronics centers Friday afternoon. Inspired by Claire Chase’s towering contrabass flute (Bertha), Sex Magic evokes and celebrates women’s power across time and cultures, evoking the giant bass flutes of Papua New Guinea and the Australian didgeridoo in a work that ritually moves across three altars, creating a mystical, mesmerizing evocation of both the present and the timeless past.
Partner Circle donors have first access to tickets. Click here to learn more.
8:00PM THE HOLY LIFTOFF
Libbey Bowl
Leilehua Lanzilotti, viola | Jay Campbell, Katinka Kleijn, Seth Parker Woods, cello | Claire Chase, flute | JACK Quartet | USC Cello Ensemble | Steven Schick, conductor
Leilehua LANZILOTTI ko’u inoa
Sofia GUBAIDULINA Mirage: The Dancing Sun
Julius EASTMAN The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc
Terry RILEY The Holy Liftoff (Realization by Samuel Clay Birmaher)
Music for a “chorus of cellos” by Julius Eastman precede The Holy Liftoff, the most recent work by pioneering American composer Terry Riley, played in Ojai by Claire Chase and the JACK Quartet. Written as a series of musical sketches and brilliantly colored drawings, an exuberant and energized work represents a culmination for Riley, who says “I feel like this piece sums up a lot of things I’ve worked for.”
SAT 06|07
8:00AM MORNING MEDITATION
Ojai Meadows Preserve
Claire Chase and Michael Matsuno, flute | M.A. Tiesenga, saxophone| Joshua Rubin, clarinet | Susie Ibarra, percussion
Susie IBARRA Sunbird (West Coast premiere)
Susie IBARRA Kolubrí
Pauline OLIVEROS Horse Sings From Cloud
Free and open to the public
10:30AM CHAMBERS
Libbey Bowl
Claire Chase, flute | Katinka Kleijn, Seth Parker Woods, cello | Cory Smythe, piano | JACK Quartet
Marcos BALTER Chambers
Leilehua LANZILOTTI ahupua’a
Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Ubique (West Coast premiere)
A program centered on the West Coast premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Ubique for flute, two cellos, piano and electronics, a work of enigmatic lyricism by a composer who is inspired by the “musical qualities of nature.”
1:00PM OJAI FILMS
Ojai Playhouse
Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros Film by Daniel Weintraub
2:00-5:00PM HOUSATONIC
Move Sanctuary
Annea LOCKWOOD Housatonic Sound installation
Annea Lockwood’s sound map of the Housatonic River, captured as a four-channel sound installation. Complete cycles of the work begin at 2pm and 3:30pm. Casual drop-ins welcome at any time.
Free and open to the public
3:30PM OJAI AFTERNOONS
Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
Claire Chase, flute | Joshua Rubin, clarinet | Craig Taborn, piano | Susie Ibarra, percussion | Levy Lorenzo, electronics
Craig TABORN Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms
A concert centered on the West Coast premiere of Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano and electronics by the endlessly inventive composer-pianist Craig Taborn. The work is inspired by a dream in which plants awake, blossom, grow and change as the dreamer walks through a garden.
8:00PM HOW FORESTS THINK
Libbey Bowl
Wu Wei, sheng | Kathryn Schulmeister, bass | Joshua Rubin, clarinet | Claire Chase, flute | Alex Peh, piano | JACK Quartet | Festival Artists | Steven Schick, conductor
JS BACH Chorale Prelude, Vor deinen Thron, BWV 668
Sofia GUBAIDULINA Meditation on the Bach chorale Vor deinen Thron, BWV 668
Tania LEÓN Hechizos
Liza LIM How Forests Think
Music by Bach, Sofia Gubaidulina (inspired by Bach) and Tania León, precede the West Coast premiere of the large-scale How Forests Think by Liza Lim, a work inspired by the imagery of ancient forests as vibrant, symbiotic communities that, as the composer writes, “that nourish the old connections and keep a song going. One might think of a forest as a choir or certainly as an ensemble. Stories, dreams, and thoughts inhabit multiple forms in a living matrix.
10:30PM OJAI LATE NIGHT
Ojai Playhouse
Liza Lim | Steven Schick | Leilehua Lanzilotti; speaker TBA | Annea Lockwood, sound diffusion
Annea LOCKWOOD Spirit Catchers
Ticketing information to be announced
SUN 06|08
8:00AM MORNING MEDITATION
Chaparral Auditorium
Seth Parker Woods, cello | Ross Karre, percussion | Leilehua Lanzilotti, viola
Leilehua LANZILOTTI the embryology of the heart (excerpt)
Bahar ROYAEE New work for solo percussion (World premiere)
Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR Sola
Free and open to the public
10:30AM RITUALS
Libbey Bowl
Wu Wei, sheng | Alex Peh, piano | Claire Chase, flute | Susie Ibarra and Levy Lorenzo, percussion | JACK Quartet
Modern Medieval (arr. Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman)
Susie IBARRA New work for sheng and percussion (World premiere)
Tania LEÓN Ritual
Susie IBARRA Sky Islands (West Coast premiere)
The JACK Quartet explores Modern/Medieval with music from the 14th to 17th centuries, renewed for contemporary performance by composers/JACK violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman. The program is followed by the West Coast premiere of Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands, evoking a unique environment of the elevated rain forests in the Philippines with the interlocking rhythms and melodies of Philippine Northern-style bamboo, gong, and flute music, performed on new sound sculptures of gong metals.
12:00PM FAMILY CONCERT
Libbey Park Gazebo
Program to be announced
1:00PM OJAI FILMS
Ojai Playhouse
32 Sounds Film by Sam Green
2:00-5:00PM HOUSATONIC
Move Sanctuary
Annea LOCKWOOD Housatonic Sound installation
Annea Lockwood’s sound map of the Housatonic River, captured as a four-channel sound installation. Complete cycles of the work begin at 2pm and 3:30pm. Casual drop-ins welcome at any time.
Free and open to the public
2:30PM OJAI AFTERNOONS (repeat performance)
Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
Claire Chase, flute | Joshua Rubin, clarinet | Craig Taborn, piano | Susie Ibarra, percussion | Levy Lorenzo, electronics
Craig TABORN Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms
A concert centered on the West Coast premiere of Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano, and electronics by the endlessly inventive composer-pianist Craig Taborn. The work is inspired by a dream in which plants awake, blossom, grow, and change as the dreamer walks through a garden.
5:30PM PULSEFIELD
Libbey Bowl
Claire Chase, flute | Festival Artists | Steven Schick, conductor
Leilehua LANZILOTTI ko’u inoa
Pauline OLIVEROS The Witness
Tania LEÓN Singsong (World premiere of solo version)
Terry RILEY Pulsefield 3 (World premiere)
An exuberant all-company 2025 Festival finale includes music by Leilehua Lanzilotti, Pauline Oliveros’s The Witness, and the world premiere of a new version of Tania León’s Singsong adapted for solo flute. The Festival culminates in the world premiere of Terry Riley’s Pulsefield 3, in a joyous celebration of the composer’s 90th birthday.
2025 Festival Highlights
The Ojai Music Festival welcomes as Music Director one of today’s most vital artists, Claire Chase. Reflecting on Ojai’s natural and sonic environment, the 2025 Festival programming offers responses to landscape as caretakers and participants and welcomes a multi-generational collective of composers, performers, composer-performers, and improvisers. Read 2025 highlights and join us for another music adventure.
Types of Libbey Bowl Series Passes
| NUMBER OF DAYS | What’s Included |
|---|---|
| 4-Day Libbey Bowl Pass | Libbey Bowl Concerts on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (7 in total), plus Ojai Talks |
| 3-Day Libbey Bowl Pass | Libbey Bowl Concerts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (6 in total) |
| 2-Day Libbey Bowl Pass | Libbey Bowl Concerts on Saturday and Sunday (4 in total) |
This symbol indicates that this is a Beyond the Bowl event, not located at Libbey Bowl. Due to the intimate setting of these events, they are not automatically included in Libbey Bowl Passes and may require the purchase of an additional ticket.
THU 06|05
OJAI TALKS
3:00PM | Ojai Presbyterian Church
Claire Chase and Festival artists and composers in conversation
Automatically included in 4-Day Libbey Bowl Passes, available for purchase as an add-on.
PAN
8:00PM | Libbey Bowl
A festive opening night with Annea Lockwood’s bayou-borne, an affectionate tribute to Pauline Oliveros, then culminating in Marcos Balter’s Pan, an already iconic work from Claire Chase’s epic Density 2036 project. Pan is a deeply affecting work that explores the life and death of the mythical Greek goat-god Pan, written for flute, electronics, and a community of musicians, telling the tale of this weaver of melodies and a guardian of the wilderness – true to the Ojai spirit!
FRI 06|06
OJAI DAWNS
8:00AM | Zalk Theater, Beasant Hill School
Early morning program featuring JACK Quartet with works by Tania León, Liza Lim, and two exciting emerging composers, Vicente Atria and Eduardo Aguilar.
Member Circle donors have first access to tickets. Click here to learn more.
PULSING LIFTERS
10:30AM | Libbey Bowl
A program of works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Cory Smythe and Craig Taborn that celebrates the old made new in Thorvaldsdottir’s Impressions for harpsichord as well as a summit meeting between two dazzlingly inventive composer/pianists whose worlds encompass jazz, new music and beyond.
SEX MAGIC
3:30PM | Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
A program devoted to Sex Magic by the Australian composer Liza Lim for solo contrabass flute and electronics, celebrating the sacred erotic in women’s history. Inspired by Claire Chase’s towering contrabass flute (Bertha), Sex Magic evokes the giant bass flutes of Papua New Guinea and the Australian Didjeridoo in a work that ritually moves across three altars, creating a mystical, mesmerizing evocation of both the present and the timeless past.
Partner Circle donors have first access to tickets. Click here to learn more.
THE HOLY LIFTOFF
8:00PM | Libbey Bowl
Music for a “chorus of cellos” by Julius Eastman precede The Holy Liftoff, the most recent work by pioneering American composer Terry Riley, played in Ojai by Claire Chase and the JACK Quartet. Written as a series of musical sketches and brilliantly colored drawings, an exuberant and energized work represents a culmination for Riley, who says “I feel like this piece sums up a lot of things I’ve worked for.”
SAT 06|07
MORNING MEDITATION
8:00 AM | Ojai Meadows Preserve
Program TBA.
Free and open to the public
CHAMBERS
10:30AM | Libbey Bowl
A program centered on the West Coast premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Ubique for flute, two cellos, piano and electronics, a work of enigmatic lyricism by a composer who is inspired by the “musical qualities of nature.”
ENDANGERED CHARMS
3:30PM | Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
A concert centered on the West Coast premiere of Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano and electronics by the endlessly inventive composer-pianist Craig Taborn. The work is inspired by a dream in which plants awake, blossom, grow and change as the dreamer walks through a garden.
Subscribers have first access to ticket sales. Purchase this event as an add-on when you subscribe.
HOW FORESTS THINK
8:00PM | Libbey Bowl
Music by Bach, Sofia Gubaidulina (inspired by Bach) and Tania León, precede the West Coast premiere of the large-scale How Forests Think by Liza Lim, a work inspired by the imagery of ancient forests as vibrant, symbiotic communities that, as the composer writes, “that nourish the old connections and keep a song going. One might think of a forest as a choir or certainly as an ensemble. Stories, dreams and thoughts inhabit multiple forms in a living matrix.”
SUN 06|08
MORNING MEDITATION
8:00AM
Program TBA.
Free and open to the public
RITUALS
10:30AM | Libbey Bowl
The JACK Quartet explores Modern/Medieval with music from the 14th to 17th centuries, renewed for contemporary performance by composers/JACK violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman. The program is followed by the West Coast premiere of Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands, evoking a unique environment of the elevated rain forests in the Philippines with the interlocking rhythms and melodies of Philippine Northern-style bamboo, gong, and flute music, performed on new sound sculptures of gong metals.
ENDANGERED CHARMS (repeat performance)
2:30PM | Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
A concert centered on the West Coast premiere of Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano and electronics by the endlessly inventive composer-pianist Craig Taborn. The work is inspired by a dream in which plants awake, blossom, grow and change as the dreamer walks through a garden.
Subscribers have first access to ticket sales. Purchase this event as an add-on when you subscribe.
PULSEFIELDS
5:30PM | Libbey Bowl
An exuberant all-company finale with music by Hawaiian composer Leilehua Lanzilotti, Pauline Oliveros’ The Witness and the West Coast premiere of Terry Riley’s Pulsefield as the joyous ending.
Programs and artists are subject to change. Schedule as of October 8, 2024.
Ojai Music Festival Announces 2025 Music Director
“Claire Chase is one of the boldest, most inventive and irresistibly joyous musicians I have ever known. She is such a generative force in all that she does, embracing composers, audiences, and entire communities with generosity. She is the perfect match for Ojai’s spirit of adventure, and I can’t wait to imagine the possibilities together for the 2025 Festival!”
– Ara Guzelimian, Artistic and Executive Director
(April 10, 2024 – Ojai, California) – As the Ojai Music Festival anticipates the upcoming 78th Festival (June 6-9, 2024) with Music Director Mitsuko Uchida, Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian announces flutist Claire Chase as Music Director for the 2025 Festival. Since the late 1940s, the Ojai Music Festival’s tradition has been to welcome a new Music Director each year to ensure vitality and diversity in programming across Festivals. Initial details for Chase’s 2025 Festival (June 5 to 8, 2025) will be announced in June 2024.
“When Ara called me with the invitation, I nearly dropped the phone! The Ojai Festival has been a kind of dreamland for me since I was a kid growing up in Southern California, and I have the deepest affection for the audiences at Ojai – I don’t know that a more curious, adventurous, and open-eared group of listeners exists anywhere in the world. I’m tremendously excited to work with Ara to craft experiences that I hope will animate, complicate, and celebrate the connections between musics of the past and the beating-heart present,” shares Claire Chase.
Previously, Chase performed at the Ojai Music Festival with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in 2015 with that year’s Music Director Steven Schick, in 2016 with Music Director Peter Sellars, and in 2017 with Music Director Vijay Iyer.
Claire Chase, described by The New York Times recently as “the North Star of her instrument’s ever-expanding universe,” is a musician, interdisciplinary artist, and educator. Passionately dedicated to the creation of new ecosystems for the music of our time, Chase has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works by a new generation of artists, and in 2013 launched the 24-year commissioning project Density 2036. Now in its eleventh year, Density 2036 reimagines the solo flute literature over a quarter-century through commissions, performances, recordings, education, and an accessible archive at density2036.org. Chase co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble in 2001, was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2012, and in 2017 was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Chase is currently Professor of the Practice of Music at Harvard University’s Department of Music, a Creative Associate at The Juilliard School, and a Collaborative Partner with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony. For complete biographical information on Claire Chase, visit OjaiFestival.org.
Details of the 2025 Ojai Festival programming and artists will be announced in June 2024.
ARA GUZELIMIAN, ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Ara Guzelimian is the Artistic and Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival, having begun in that position in July 2020. The appointment culminates many years of association with the Festival including tenures as director of the Ojai Talks and as Artistic Director from 1992–97. 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. He continues at Juilliard as Special Advisor.
Prior to the Juilliard appointment, he was Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall from 1998 to 2006. Guzelimian 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. In 2020, Guzelimian was appointed to the advisory panel of the Birgit Nilsson Foundation in Sweden.
Previously, 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, first as producer for the orchestra’s national radio broadcasts and, subsequently, as Artistic Administrator. 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, he was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.
OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL
The Ojai Music Festival represents an ideal of adventurous, open-minded, and openhearted programming in the most beautiful and welcoming of settings, with audiences and artists to match its aspirations. Now in its 78th year, the Festival remains a creative laboratory 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 shape 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 programming as well as robust educational offerings that serve thousands of public-school students and seniors. The organization’s apex is the world-renowned Festival, which takes place over four days in Ojai, a breathtaking valley 75 miles from Los Angeles, which is a perennial 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. The intimate Festival weekend, considered a highlight of the international music summer season, welcomes up to 5,000 patrons and reaches exponentially more audiences worldwide through streaming and broadcasts of concerts and discussions throughout the year.
Since its founding in 1947, the Ojai Music Festival has presented expansive programming 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 a different Music Director each year, Ojai has presented a “who’s who” of music including Mitsuko Uchida, Rhiannon Giddens, AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), Vijay Iyer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and Barbara Hannigan in recent years; 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, Matthias Pintscher, and Peter Sellars.
EXPERIENCE THE 78TH OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL, JUNE 6-9, 2024
The 78th Ojai Music Festival, June 6 to 9, 2024, welcomes as Music Director pianist Mitsuko Uchida, one of the most universally admired artists of our time. Mitsuko Uchida last performed at the 2004 Festival and was co-music director in 1998.
Uchida, who will perform each Festival evening in works by Schoenberg and Mozart, welcomes 2024 collaborators the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Brentano String Quartet, violinist Alexi Kenney, cellist Jay Campbell, harpist Julie Smith Phillips, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, percussionist Sae Hashimoto, accordionist Ljubinka Kulisic and bassist Rick Stotijn.
Works By Kaija Saariaho are woven throughout the 2024 Festival, including Dreaming Chaconne, Fall, Six Japanese Gardens, and Lichtbogen, conducted by Saariaho’s daughter Aliisa Neige Barriere. Highlights of the 2024 Festival also include music of John Adams, Bartók, Biber, Cage, Debussy, Sofia Gubaidulina, Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, Missy Mazzoli, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Stravinsky, Jörg Widmann, and John Zorn.
In collaboration with Baryshnikov Arts, Shifting Ground features violinist Alexi Kenney and video projections by Xuan, juxtaposing Baroque works by Bach and Matteis, with recent music by Kaija Saariaho, Angélica Negrón, Paul Wiancko, and Salina Fisher. The 2024 Festival integrates music from both the First and Second Viennese Schools, from Haydn and Mozart to Berg, Webern, and multiple works by Arnold Schoenberg in honor of the 150th Anniversary of his birth.
Single tickets and day passes to the 2024 Festival are available online at OjaiFestival.org or by calling (805) 646-2053. Follow Festival updates at OjaiFestival.org.
# # #
OJAILIVE: 2024 Live Stream Schedule & Replays
Since 2012, the Ojai Music Festival has expanded its global footprint building a worldwide audience and has deepened connections with patrons throughout the year with free Live Stream Broadcasts. The 78th Festival, June 6 to 9, continues this offering with acclaimed pianist Mitsuko Uchida as Music Director.
You can watch the free live streams of the Libbey Bowl concerts from the Festival’s home page which will begin Thu, June 6 at 8pm. The complete evening concerts will only be available at the time of the performance. Full morning concerts and highlights of the evening concerts will be available on our website and on our YouTube channel following the Festival. Below is the schedule of concerts to be live streamed.
For more context on this year’s Festival, enjoy these links:
THU June 6, 2024
8:00PM OPENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Brentano String Quartet | Mitsuko Uchida piano | Lucy Fitz Gibbon soprano
HAYDN String Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 (“Bird”)
SCHOENBERG Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19
MOZART Fantasy in D minor, K. 397
SCHOENBERG String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 10
FRI June 7, 2024
10:00AM
Julie Smith Phillips harp | Jay Campbell cello | Sae Hashimoto percussion | Naomi Shaham double bass | Brentano String Quartet
KAIJA SAARIAHO Fall
HELMUT LACHENMANN Pression
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Five Etudes
BARTÓK String Quartet No. 5
8:00PM
Mitsuko Uchida piano and director
José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
STRAVINSKY Fanfare for a New Theater
WEBERN Five Movements for Strings, Op. 5
SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
MOZART Piano Concerto in E flat, K. 482
SAT June 8, 2024
10:00AM
Ljubinka Kulisic accordion | Rick Stotijn double bass | Musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra
JOHN ZORN Road Runner
MISSY MAZZOLI Dark with Excessive Bright
JOHN ADAMS Shaker Loops
8:00PM
This concert will be shown in it’s entirety only the evening it will be performed.
Mitsuko Uchida piano and director | José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader | Aliisa Neige Barrière conductor | Vicente Alberola clarinet
DEBUSSY (arr. Benno SACHS) Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
KAIJA SAARIAHO Lichtbogen
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN Elegy (from kínēma)
MOZART Piano Concerto in B flat, K. 595
SUN June 9, 2024
10:00AM
Alexi Kenney violin | Sae Hashimoto percussion | Ljubinka Kulisic accordion | Brentano String Quartet
BIBER Passacaglia for solo violin
KAIJA SAARIAHO Six Japanese Gardens
HAYDN From The Seven Last Words of Christ
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA In Croce
5:30PM
Mitsuko Uchida piano and director | José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader |
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
HAYDN Symphony No. 46 in B major, Hob. I:46
JÖRG WIDMANN Chorale Quartet (Choralquartett), version for chamber orchestra
MOZART Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453
Live Stream FAQ
Where do I find the Live Stream?
At concert time, the Live Stream will be available at the top of our Homepage.
It’s concert time and I still don’t see the Live Stream on the Homepage.
Sometimes your browser stores an old version of the webpage. To refresh the page, click the “
” button in your browser.
I see the Live Stream. How do I watch full screen?
To watch full screen on the Homepage, click the “
“ button in the bottom right of the player.
Where can I watch the Live Stream concert after it ends?
Live Stream videos will be available the following day on the 2024 Live Stream Schedule. Following the Festival, they will remain on our website and our Festival YouTube Channel. However, the evening concerts will only be shown the night of the performance.
2024 Festival Schedule
Join us for a curated journey, where music is the adventure, with the characteristic Ojai mix of new and old, familiar and unfamiliar, in the company of remarkable artists who bring vitality, freshness, and a sense of discovery to all that they do. Scroll down to view the 2024 Schedule.
This symbol indicates that this is a Beyond the Bowl event, not located at Libbey Bowl. Due to the intimate setting of these events, they are not automatically included in Libbey Bowl Passes and require the purchase of an additional ticket.
THU 06|06
3:00PM OJAI TALKS
Ojai Presbyterian Church
Two-part session with Music Director Mitsuko Uchida and featured artists, hosted by Ara Guzelimian and John Schaefer of WQXR New Sounds.
Automatically included in 4-Day Libbey Bowl Passes.
6:30PM MUSICAL POP-UP
Libbey Park Gazebo
To start the Festival evening, enjoy a performance by harpist Julie Smith Phillips.
8:00PM OPENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Brentano String Quartet | Mitsuko Uchida, piano | Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano
HAYDN String Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 (“Bird”)
SCHOENBERG Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19
MOZART Fantasy in D minor, K. 397
SCHOENBERG String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 10
This will be a live stream broadcast available on the evening of the performance on our website.
FRI 06|07
8:00AM OJAI DAWNS
Zalk Theater, Besant Hill School
Jay Campbell, cello | Sae Hashimoto, percussion | Ljubinka Kulisic, accordion
GIUSEPPE COLOMBI Ciaccona
KAIJA SAARIAHO Dreaming Chaconne
HELMUT LACHENMANN Interieur I
HELMUT LACHENMANN Toccatina
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA In Croce
10:00AM MORNING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Julie Smith Phillips, harp | Jay Campbell, cello | Sae Hashimoto, percussion | Naomi Shaham, double bass | Brentano String Quartet
KAIJA SAARIAHO Fall
HELMUT LACHENMANN Pression
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Five Etudes
BARTÓK String Quartet No. 5
This will be a live stream broadcast available on our website.
11:30AM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Jay Campbell with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
3:30PM SHIFTING GROUND
Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
Alexi Kenney, violin
Xuan, visual artist
A unique program for solo violin and video projections juxtaposing Baroque works by Bach and Matteis with recent music by Kaija Saariaho, Angélica Negrón, Paul Wiancko, and Salina Fisher. Produced in collaboration with the Baryshnikov Arts, New York.
6:00PM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Alexi Kenney and Xuan with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
8:00PM EVENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Mitsuko Uchida, piano and director
José Maria Blumenschein, concertmaster and leader
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
STRAVINSKY Fanfare for a New Theater
WEBERN Five Movements for Strings, Op. 5
SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
MOZART Piano Concerto in E flat, K. 482
This will be a live stream broadcast available on the evening of the performance on our website.
SAT 06|08
8:00AM MORNING MEDITATION
Chaparral Auditorium, 414 E Ojai Ave
Jay Campbell, cello
Catherine Lamb The Additive Arrow for cello and live electronics
10:00AM MORNING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Ljubinka Kulisic, accordion | Rick Stotijn, double bass | Musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra
JOHN ZORN Road Runner
MISSY MAZZOLI Dark with Excessive Bright
JOHN ADAMS Shaker Loops
This will be a live stream broadcast available on our website.
11:30AM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Rick Stotjin with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
3:30PM SHIFTING GROUND
(repeat performance)
Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
Alexi Kenney, violin
Xuan, visual artist
A unique program for solo violin and video projections juxtaposing Baroque works by Bach and Matteis with recent music by Kaija Saariaho, Angélica Negrón, Paul Wiancko and Salina Fisher. Produced in collaboration with the Baryshnikov Arts, New York.
6:00PM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Aliisa Neige Barrière with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
8:00PM EVENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Mitsuko Uchida, piano and director | José Maria Blumenschein, concertmaster and leader | Aliisa Neige Barrière, conductor | Vicente Alberola, clarinet
DEBUSSY (arr. Benno SACHS) Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
KAIJA SAARIAHO Lichtbogen
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN Elegy (from kínēma)
MOZART Piano Concerto in B flat, K. 595
This will be a live stream broadcast available on the evening of the performance on our website.
SUN 06|09
8:00AM MORNING MEDITATION
Chaparral Auditorium, 414 E Ojai Ave
Ljubinka Kulisic, accordion
Music of John Cage
10:00AM MORNING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Alexi Kenney, violin | Sae Hashimoto, percussion | Ljubinka Kulisic, accordion | Brentano String Quartet
BIBER Passacaglia for solo violin
KAIJA SAARIAHO Six Japanese Gardens
HAYDN From The Seven Last Words of Christ
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA In Croce
This will be a live stream broadcast available on our website.
11:30AM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Ljubinka Kulisic and Sae Hashimoto with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
2:30PM KAFKA FRAGMENTS
Greenberg Activity Center
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano| Alexi Kenney, violin
KURTÁG Kafka Fragments
Kurtág’s eloquent setting of fragments from Kafka’s diaries weaves together singer and violinist into a deeply personal dialogue, a reflection on life’s joys, trials and the “dances of time.”
4:00PM COMMUNITY & FAMILY EVENT
Libbey Park Gazebo
First, enjoy the Instrument Petting Zoo hosted by the Ojai Music Festival’s BRAVO education program at 3pm, then join us for a free concert featuring members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra!
5:30PM FINALE
Libbey Bowl
Mitsuko Uchida, piano and director | José Maria Blumenschein, concertmaster and leader |
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
HAYDN Symphony No. 46 in B major
JÖRG WIDMANN Chorale Quartet
MOZART Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453
This will be a live stream broadcast available on the evening of the performance on our website.
Programs and artists are subject to change.