My Memories of Lou Harrison Part I
by Jain Fletcher
The Ojai Music Festival is fortunate to have amazing patrons who share their own personal experiences with music, from their past and present. Long-time patron, Jain Fletcher, kindly gave us a personal account of her friendship with composer Lou Harrison.
I entered San José State University (SJSU) in 1967 as a music major (flute). I was very fortunate to enter an environment consisting of a relatively young faculty of musicians who were energetic and capable of instituting and carrying out some really exciting musical initiatives. Although I took it all for granted at the time, in looking back, I have realized that the epitome of my music training and experiences took place in college. For everything that was good about the Music Department during my years at SJSU (1967 to 1979, from B.A. to M.A.), the greatest part was the benefit of having a sublime eminence on the faculty: Lou Harrison was on the staff as Composer-in-Residence.
When I first got to college, I never could have foreseen that I was going to have any personal interaction with Lou. What I did know, from the enthusiastic buzz about him, was that I wanted to experience as much as I could of what he had to offer. So, in those early days, I kept my ears and eyes open for news of concerts with his music, and then attended every one. I also took his survey course, “Music and World Cultures,” in my freshman year. Given that this course was open to all students there was no way it could have been as awesome as it would have been if it had been addressed to music majors or graduates. But think about it: a class on world music(!) from Lou Harrison!! Needless to say, it was a complete eye-opener. Sure, he knew his subject, but better yet, he was an excellent teacher. I had never heard anyone discourse so articulately and beautifully in- or outside a classroom. Because he was so passionate about this topic, it was also a difficult course to do well in. In the end, what he introduced in that class opened up a whole new world of music for me at a very impressionable time of my life.
My Memories of Lou Harrison Part II
Part II of My Memories of Lou Harrison by Jain Fletcher
In my last year of school, I started trying to make plans to go to New York, but with my chronic lack of funds, my chances were not looking very promising. At around that same time, Lou told me he was being asked to make a tour of New York state with his small group (Bill Colvig and Richard Dee) and, since I was “going to New York anyway” he had some music for violin (ossia flute) and drone that he thought would be nice to have me play on the concerts. I could not imagine saying “no” to this unbelievable opportunity, so I happily agreed. To prepare for our tour, we spent at least 3 weekend days at Lou’s and Bill’s place in Cabrillo, practicing the music for the concert. After that, we would have a little dinner before I coaxed my ’56 VW back over the Santa Cruz mountains to San Jose.
Practicing for the concert was very special, indeed, but I treasure even more the chance I got to be with Lou and his friends in his and Bill’s very colorful and comfortable home. The most pleasant part of those dinners was the stories they would tell. My most vivid memory of those stories was this one time when Bill and Lou regaled me over dinner with their recent adventure at a local hardware store trying out various metallic canisters to be used as “drums” (such as galvanized steel garbage cans) or beaters (such as hammers and large bolts, etc.) for a piece they were going to be staging soon. I could not help imagining the look on other shoppers’ faces when they saw two men pulling several garbage can lids out into the aisles to test their sound qualities–all the while engaged in a spirited discussion of their relative merits. When I registered both my delight and amazement at this story, they assured me that they had long since managed to garner the proprietor’s “blessing” for this activity. I also remember how much Lou shared of himself at his house. I remember asking one evening about how he got such beautiful handwriting. He not only told me how he got his start at calligraphy (which I have managed to forget after all these years), but he also gave me my first impromptu calligraphy “lesson”. He wanted to show me how “easy” it was to make the strokes, first by showing me, then by letting me try. My results could not have been much more than scribbles at the time, but his lesson “took”, because it gave me the courage to continue. About three years later (when I was working in a book and art supplies store), I had my first real chance to learn some calligraphy–and I have practiced it since. Not to either Lou’s or Ron’s level, mind you, but it pleases me anyway…
Festival program book opportunities for Ojai businesses and beyond
A significant part of the Ojai Music Festival’s legacy and ‘aura’ is its idyllic setting. When When John Bauer first laid eyes on Ojai some 67 years ago, he knew that the Ojai Valley would be the perfect location for an emerging festival for the arts.
To this day, Ojai continues to charm not only audience members, but Festival artists who equally fall in love with the intimate, outdoor setting of the Libbey Bowl as well as the eclectic small town and bucolic surroundings.
Indeed, the Festival is fortunate to have a backyard of beauty, plus a very supportive community from the residents to the businesses.
The many businesses – from lodging, restaurants and art galleries to shops, spas and coffee shops, participate in many ways including advertising in the hefty program book, written eloquently by musicologist Christopher Hailey. Although the Festival has other ad partners outside of the Ojai community, it is the local businesses that support the must-read program book that patrons read fiendishly during the Festival and keep even after the Festival as a memento!
View our list of local eateries here > >
Find things to do in Ojai during Festival or year round >>
Are you a business looking to “win over” a highly –desirable group of arts patrons?
View our media kit, which includes rates and audience demographics >>
Oh, The Places to Go – Ojai Expert Sheila Cohn
The Ojai Music Festival is fortunate to have amazing volunteers, who not only assist us during our four-day music event, but throughout the year as well. Meet one such volunteer, Sheila Cohn, who has taken on the duty as our helpful Festival Concierge for the last six years. Sheila is there to provide assistance on lodging and offer superb advice on places to eat, see and do.
My name is Sheila Cohn, and I have been a travel advisor for 38 years, currently at Santa Barbara Travel-Ventura Branch It has been my great privilege to be the Festival Concierge for these many years. This entails arranging lodging and giving advice about restaurants, transportation and sightseeing. Having lived in Ojai for 16 years I am fairly knowledgeable about the town which I love so much. During the Festival we are all immersed in the music and social activities. However, there is always a little downtime to explore the town. Here are some of my ‘go-to’ suggestions that I offer to our patrons looking for an ‘adventure’ close to the Libbey Bowl:
1) Hike up Signal Street. At the end, there are two beautiful trails-straight ahead is Shelf Road-a panoramic fire road that overlooks the city, where you will see orange and avocado groves and beautiful vistas. Go up about two miles and then turn around. If you turn left at the top of Signal you get on Pratt Trail, which is in the Los Padres National Forest. This trail is a little more challenging.
2) Walk along the Arcade (the main shopping street directly across from Libbey Park) and visit the charming galleries and shops. Make sure to visit the shops on Matilija, the street behind the Arcade and on Montgomery and Signal Streets.
3) Wine tasting at Casa Barranca, the Ojai Vineyard, or at Ojai Beverage Company which is a few blocks east of the park.
4) Have lunch at one of the several restaurants that have outdoor patios.
BRAVO! – An Ever-Growing Program for Music in the Schools
Judy Vander, Ojai Music Festival Education Committee Member writes about the diverse programs offered as part of BRAVO! – including its new residency ‘Ojai Creates Opera’.
The breadth and variety of the Ojai Music Festival’s BRAVO! music education program has garnered wide acclaim from educators, parents and students for its continued resolve to offer free programs in the Ojai Valley public school system.
One of the Festival’s newest programs for the very youngest is Education Through Music (ETM), which serves students, kindergarten through first grade, in the Ojai Unified School District. This innovative way of teaching and learning music reaches the child through play, song, language, and movement. ETM has been so successful that there are now ongoing tutorial sessions to give ETM training to classroom teachers, funded by the Ojai Rotary Club.
Ojai’s Crown Jewel: Ojai Valley Inn & Spa
905 Country Club Rd
Phone: 805 646 1111
Website: OjaiResort.com
Often cited as one of the top resorts in the country, the famed Ojai Valley Inn & Spa offers a complete vacation experience, featuring luxurious rooms, extensive spa services, a variety of delicious restaurants, and a picturesque golf course, all surrounded by stunning views of the Topa Topa mountains and Ojai’s pink moment. Conveniently located a 10 minute walk from Libbey Bowl (or an even shorter bike ride), the Ojai Valley Inn is connected to the Libbey Bowl and downtown Ojai by the Ojai Valley Trail.
Festival patrons receive as special room rate at the Inn. Click here to book online or use group code MUSIC when making your reservation.
A Career Found: Margaret Barrett, From Intern to Asst. Producer
I spent a lot of my childhood living in Ojai and vaguely remember folks at my schools, Mira Monte and Matilija, mentioning the Ojai Music Festival. Murmurs of experimental music during Ojai summers came through my piano teacher, my school choir community, and through some of my parents’ more artistic friends. However, I remained fairly oblivious. The most actual music I heard from the Festival was from distant rehearsals resounding in the park as I stepped into Ojai Ice Cream on a warm June day. Who knows, maybe Pierre Boulez opened the door for me at the time, and I missed it.
A San Diegan Perspective
You will always find variety at the Ojai Music Festival – the music, opinions, artists, and even the audience members. And like the artists, our audience members have a passion for music and an appetite for adventure, including Bonnie Wright, who has been attending since 2010.
Bonnie has had a busy career supporting music in both the east and west coasts, from curating the Fresh Sound Music series at Sushi: A Center for the Urban Arts, presenting music at The Loft on the UC San Diego campus to hosting music soirees at her home and most recently establishing Henceforth Records, a label which focuses on contemporary music.
Bonnie is ready to go for 2013 – as a matter of fact – she subscribed right before the 2012 Festival, which gave her an invitation to meet 2014 Music Director Jeremy Denk at our subscriber breakfast during Festival weekend. Recently, Bonnie shared with us what she is looking forward to in 2013, and we couldn’t agree with her more!
I am thrilled once again for the programming brilliance of the Ojai Festival. First: Mark Morris! I’ve enjoyed his dance and choreography for years but what a nice surprise to have him as Music Director this year.
I look forward to everything that he has programmed. From a San Diegan’s perspective, red fish blue fish is one of the tops. I have been paying attention to them since they first got started at UCSD under the direction of Steve Schick.
And what will The Rite of Spring sound like performed by The Bad Plus – how cool.
The music of John Luther Adams, Lou Harrison, Messiaen, Terry Riley and Henry Cowell too; what a marvelous treat. I always love the Ojai Talks led by Ara Guzelimian. How could I not feel like a much smarter person after those?
From my perspective, the Ojai Festival is full of good music, smart talk and casual elegance. I plan to be there for each Festival as long as I can still wiggle!
– Bonnie Wright
Purchase your 2013 series tickets here >>
photo: Bonnie Wright and fellow subscriber Kurt Wilder at the 2010 Ojai Music Festival.
Staff Notes – Meet Nathalie Selleslags
We’re relaunching our blog with a new series, Staff Notes, where you can learn a little bit more about the faces behind the Festival’s day-to-day operations and their relationship with OMF. First up is Nathalie – if you’ve stopped by the office or contacted the Festival, chances are Nathalie’s smiling face has been the one to greet you.
Watch The Bad Plus Perform ‘On Sacred Ground’
The Bad Plus are known for challenging the boundaries of genre – one of their latest projects has been the multimedia On Sacred Ground, a jazz arrangement of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Watch excerpts of their Lincoln Center performance below:
While they won’t be performing the full multimedia version at Ojai in June, The Bad Plus will be playing their arrangement during the Thursday Night Concert (June 6, 2013) and again at Ojai North! (June 13-15, 2013).
The Oakridge Inn
780 North Ventura Avenue
Phone: 805 649 4018
Website: Oakridgeinn.com
If you’re looking for another lodging alternative in the Ojai Valley during Festival weekend, The Oakridge Inn is just the place for you. The Oakridge Inn is located in Oak View, a small Ojai Valley community nestled among spreading oaks, surrounded by tree-covered mountains, beautiful parks, museums, historical sites, and recreational facilities.
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Click on a photo to view or download a high-res version using the links above.
Contact Gina Gutierrez or call 805 646 2094 ext. 104 for additional images.
Mark Morris Talks About His Creative Process
2013 Music Director and noted American choreographer Mark Morris discusses his creative process, his relationship with music, and a few of his projects.
Inuksuit, John Luther Adams, and Ojai
Just before the new year, influential music critic Alex Ross released several end of year lists. He named the Festival’s own Thomas Morris as one of the Persons of the Year, and released his list of the greatest performances of 2011. One of the selected highlights was the performance of John Luther Adams’ “Inuksuit” at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. Written for Steve Schick, Inuksuit–the title is derived from the stone cairns used by the indigenous peoples of the Arctic–is an arresting piece for 9-99 percussion performers who are located throughout a large space (it was originally intended to be performed outdoors), allowing audience members to remain stationary or to move through the performers at will. Watch excerpts from the Armory performance.
Lucky for us, we don’t have to travel to New York to witness Inuksuit. The 2012 Festival will kick off with the piece’s West Coast premiere on Thursday Evening at 5pm. The premiere will be a free community performance featuring 48 percussionists led by Steven Schick, including professional musicians, music students from Southern California universities and colleges, and local musicians from Ojai. They will be placed throughout Libbey Park and Bowl to create a truly unique, interactive musical experience.
Luther Adams is no stranger to such intersections and interactions between space and sound. Described by the New Yorker as “one of the most original musical thinkers of the 21st century,” his works take the vast natural landscapes and the indigenous cultures of his adopted Alaska as their inspiration. Spurred by his deep interest in environmental conservation, Luther Adams’ compositions create a bridge between human experience and the natural world, bringing audiences greater awareness and a heightened connection with nature. Many of his works take their material directly from nature itself. In The Place Where You Go To Listen, for instance, Luther Adams used seismological readings and geophysical data in composing.
In many ways Luther Adams’ compositions are a perfect fit for the outdoor setting of Libbey Bowl, and the 2012 Festival will feature several of his works. After Inuksuit on Thursday, the evening concert will also feature Red Arc/Blue Veil, performed by Marc-André Hamelin and Steve Schick. Luther Adams’ work returns on Sunday night, where Leif Ove Andsnes will join Hamelin to perform Dark Waves. Click here to listen to a preview.
This year’s Festival is promising to be a truly unique intersection of music, place, and idea. If you have not yet purchased your tickets for this year’s Festival, you can do so online, or by calling 805.646.2053.
For more information on John Luther Adams and to read his writing on music, composition, and the environment, visit his website.
Confessions of a Teenage ‘Metro Gnome’
György Ligeti’s fluxus score to ‘Poème Symphonique’ spends little time discussing the performance of the work itself. Instead, he addresses a more pressing matter: acquiring 100 metronomes. Music stores, newspaper advertisements, and Maecenas are some of the sources that Ligeti encourages to bribe with program note recognition etc. If a rich patron were to simply buy Ligeti 100 metronomes, the piece would be “dedicated to him alone.”
When Artistic Director Tom Morris pitched the project to me in 2007, he lowered the cone of silence. “We’ve located the metronomes, but now I need you to assemble a team to set them off at the opening night concert.” Six cardboard boxes of time-keeping devices had just arrived from a performance of ‘Poème Symphonique’ in Austin, Texas. We were armed and ready.
Ten tables with ten metronomes each ringed the bowl at the opening night concert. Pianists Amy Williams and Helena Bugallo gave the signal to my team and the clicking commenced. While the sound of one metronome is regular and percussive, multiplied one hundred times, the result is quite different—imagine rain on a tin roof. But one by one, the upward pendulums froze until the heroic last stand of the final metronome. Beats away from death, the wooden pyramid hypnotized the audience. A long pause was observed when the last click sounded.
Albert Behar is a composer and past intern at the Ojai Music Festival. He is currently running around Paris with an accordion in search of jazz manouche. To find out more about his French alter-ego visit: http://accordion.albertbehar.com
Getting To Know Christianne Stotijn
This week mezzo-soprano and 2012 Festival artist Christianne Stotijn will be performing Mahler 2 and 3 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, as part of the Phil’s month-long Mahler Project. Delft-born Stotijn is known throughout the world for her passionate and nuanced interpretations of lieder. Here are five things we’ve learned about Stotijn in preparation for her arrival in Ojai:
– She’s not only a singer, but an accomplished violinist as well.
– She is the recipient of several awards, including the ECHO Rising Stars Award (2005/2006) and the Nederlands Muziekprijs (2008). In 2007, she was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and her recording of Tchaikovsky songs with pianist Julius Drake won a BBC Music Magazine award.
– Stotijn has performed with leading orchestras throughout the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and now, the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
– She has appeared in major roles with the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House in Convent Garden, the Nederlandse Opera and the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels.
– BBC Music Magazine hails her as “that artist in a thousand whose personality shines through in everything she does.”
From what we’ve learned, Stotijn is an artist who is not to be missed and we’re excited to welcome her to Ojai in June. You can catch Stotijn in Ojai throughout the Festival weekend, where she will be performing works by Shostakovich, Wagner, and William Bolcolm, among others. Click here to see her concerts and to buy tickets to the 2012 Festival.
And if you can’t wait until June, here’s a little behind-the-scenes YouTube video to tide you over: Christianne Stotijn Recording Schubert, Berg, Wolf
Learn more about Christianne Stotijn at her website.
Boston Glober Reviews Leif Ove Andsnes Performances
2012 Music Director Leif Ove Andsnes began his U.S. tour last week stopping in Boston to perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Boston Globe music critic Jeremy Eichler described the performance in his review — “Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with soloist Leif Ove Andsnes. This excellent Norwegian pianist plays with a rare blend of fluidity and control, and his Beethoven last night grew more daring and boldly profiled as the work progressed, ending with a finale that was irresistible.”
Happy New Year from the Ojai Music Festival
Happy New Year! January is a time when most of us take stock on our success last year and how we want to improve ourselves going forward. For the Festival, January is the time when the staff really starts to feel the clock ticking very quickly toward June and all of the exponential number of details that need to be addressed (upcoming gala, brochures, annual fund appeals, program book notes, corporate sponsorships, education concert, and did I mention fundraising?).
However, January is also the time when we typically implement new systems we have been developing since the last Festival ended. This week, we are implementing our new financial software, Financial Edge, that links directly to our ticketing and fundraising software. This should allow us to streamline our data entry, improve our reporting and analytical capabilities, and reduce the amount of paper forms we need to use. Like the previous two software modules, the Financial Edge installation is funded by a generous Arts Regional Initiative grant from the James Irvine Foundation to improve our Financial Sustainability with better tools. Needless to say, we are both excited and a bit nervous for such a big change. It is important for us to implement this change now before the upcoming wave of single ticket sales (if you haven’t bought your subscription yet—it is best to do it this month before the single tickets go on sale!) and expense checks related to the Festival that start going out in May.
This is just one of a few new “resolutions” for us—one which most of you would never know about (or maybe even care about!), but it should have a big benefit to helping the Ojai Music Festival operate with greater efficiency and provide us with more powerful data needed to navigate a growing Festival through a rapidly changing landscape. Here’s to better bean counting!
A Little Piece of Festival History
In doing our semi-annual office clean-out, we discovered several lost (and dusty!) treasures…including this seating chart from 2006:
Ojai Music Festival Seating Chart, circa 2006 – click for a larger view
If this looks a long way off from the receipts that you receive today, it’s true. Way back before we had a computer-based ticketing system, Festival ticket buyers were handwritten into a paper seating chart—one chart for each concert during Festival weekend. This chart is from the 2006 Saturday Morning concert. Seats that are X’d off are series subscriber seats, while single ticket buyers have been written in between. You can also see the obstructed view seats that were blocked off and the multiple layers of white-out that we had to use when making corrections in the days leading up to the Festival. In the words of Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
This was an inherited system from Betty Izant, who was the Festival’s first administrator during Lawrence Morton’s tenure as Artistic Director. Betty had an almost photographic memory for Festival-goers and could remember their names exact seats with incredible precision. Back then, records were meticulously kept on index cards and updated by hand with new information each year.
Needless to say, things are much easier now. All seating information is stored in our computer system and ticket buyers can even purchase seats online (something almost unheard of only five years ago!). The one thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the care and attention that we give when seating patrons for each year’s Festival.The seating for this year’s 2012 Festival will be especially interesting, as we’re already close to selling out the AA and A sections of Libbey Bowl. If you haven’t yet bought your tickets, you can do so online here or by calling me in the Box Office at (805) 646-2053.
LOS ANGELES TIMES TOP 2011 DANCE PICKS INCLUDE MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP
The Festival’s 2013 Music Director Mark Morris received high praise from the Los Angeles Times for the revival of Morris’ two-act masterwork, “L’Allegro, Il Penseroso, ed il Moderato, ” described as both classic and innovative. The production was presented as a collaboration between last May by the Music Center and the LA Opera.
Listen to the KUSC 2015 Festival Preview
Listen to the 2015 Festival Preview with Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris and Gail Eichenthal of KUSC:
Special thanks to:
Who’s Afraid of New Music?
If you spend any time contemplating directions in contemporary classical music, not to say designing programs full of it, or selling tickets to said programs, no matter how adventurous the vast majority of your audience may be, you almost invariably eventually run into the response, “I just don’t get it.” This is often a kind of mask for “I just really don’t like it,” or worse. In his book, Fear of Music, David stubbs explores why people are drawn to the visual experimentations of Rothko, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into affection for Stockhausen or Cage. NPR’s excellent program, To the Best of our Knowledge just conducted a fascinating interview with Mr. Stubbs. You can hear the whole interview here.