Thank you to all who attended Deep Listening with 2025 Music Director and flutist Claire Chase on May 15, 2025, presented by The Listening Garden x Ojai Music Festival at Light & Space Yoga.
It was an unforgettable night, where our two vibrant communities came together. We loved connecting through music and mindfulness, listening and conversation, in such a beautiful way. We certainly hope to see the guests again, whether that’s around town, at The Listening Garden, or at the Ojai Music Festival, June 5 to 8.
A special thank you to Naomi’s Kitchen, whose bento-style food was delightful. Enjoy this gallery of photos by Eric Andersen, who captured this special evening beautifully.
Sky Islands Will Have Its West Coast Premiere on Sunday June 8, 10:30am At Libbey Bowl
2025 Ojai Music Festival composer Susie Ibarra was awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her groundbreaking Sky Islands. In its West Coast premiere, the celebrated work will be performed at the Festivalโs Sunday concert, 10:30am, at Libbey Bowl.
A longtime innovator in sound, rhythm, and environmental storytelling, Ibarraโs Pulitzer-winning composition explores themes of biodiversity, climate change, and community practices with traditional Philippine sounds. The Pulitzer Board praised Sky Islands for “[challenging] the notion of the compositional voice by interweaving the profound musicianship and improvisational skills of a soloist as a creative tool.โ
Commissioned by the Asia Society in New York, Sky Islands premiered on July 18, 2024, featuring Ibarra who is also a percussionist, flutist and 2025 Music Director Claire Chase, pianist Alex Peh, and percussionist Levy Lorenzo with members of the Bergamot Quartet.
In Ojai, Ibarraโs award-winning work will be performed by herself, Chase, Peh, and Lorenzo with the JACK Quartet. The Sunday morning program will also include a world premiere by Ibarra, Nest Box, for sheng and percussion. ABOUT SUSIE IBARRA Susie Ibarra is a Filipinx-American composer, percussionist, and sound artist. Her interdisciplinary practice includes composition, performance, mobile sound-mapping applications, multichannel audio installations, recording, and documentary. She has performed around the globe and collaborated with artists such as Pauline Oliveros, John Zorn, and Yo La Tengo. Her past works have been presented at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Museum of Modern Art. She was raised in Houston by Filipino parents and trained in both Western classical and Philippine kulintang traditions. Her career spans avant-garde jazz, opera, electronic music, and theatre. ABOUT THE 2025 OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL: JUNE 5 TO 8 The Ojai Music Festival, June 5 to 8, 2025, welcomes as Music Director one of todayโs most vital artists, flutist Claire Chase. Reflecting on Ojaiโs 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. The four days of the Festival will explore common themes of rebirth, re-imagination, reclamation, and re-wilding with concerts, films, free community events, a sound installation, and social gatherings.
EXPERIENCE THE OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL Single tickets and day passes are available and may be purchased at OjaiFestival.org or by calling (805) 646-2053. Single tickets range from $55 to $165 for reserved seating in the Libbey Bowl. General admission for the Lawn in Libbey Bowl is $25, and add-on event prices are $55. Ojai Films can be purchased directly at OjaiPlayhouse.com. Student discounts and group sales are available by inquiring with the Festival Box Office at [email protected].
SUN MORNING CONCERT 10:30AM | LIBBEY BOWL, OJAI 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 Nest Box (World Premiere) Tania LEรN Ritual Susie IBARRA Sky Islands (West Coast Premiere)
Welcome to OJAICAST, where we pull back the curtain to take a sneak-peek at the upcoming Ojai Music Festival, June 5 to 8, in beautiful Ojai Valley, California. All are welcome here, from newcomers to long-time music fans. In-depth insights and special guests will help introduce this yearโs programming and whet your musical appetites for whatโs to come with host Christopher Noxon.
EPISODE 4
In our fourth and final episode of this series leading up to the 2025 Ojai Music Festival, Leilehua Lanzilotti discusses giant reverbs and how Hawaiian culture influences her music. Composer Liza Lim then talks about writing for solo flute and explains How Forests Think.
Will Thomas, Writer & Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Leilehua Lanzilotti and Liza Lim, Guests
OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks
EPISODE 3
This week we look behind the scenes of how the Ojai Music Festival is curated with this yearโs Music Director, Claire Chase and the Festivalโs Artistic and Executive Director, Ara Guzelimian. Claire tells the story of this yearโs Pulitzer Prize winning piece, Sky Islands by Susie Ibarra. She also demonstrates some of her exotic flute sounds and techniques.
Music featured – 1. Pan – Death of Pan composed by Marcos Balter and performed by Claire Chase 2. Pan – Panโs Flute composed by Marcos Balter and performed by Claire Chase 3. Pan – Harmony of the Spheres composed by Marcos Balter and performed by Claire Chase 4. Holy Liftoff composed by Terry Riley and performed by Claire Chase, unreleased 5. Sex Magic: II. Oracles I โSalutations to the Cowrie Shells composed by Liza Lim, performed by Claire Chase & Senem Pirler 6. Sky Islands composed by Susie Ibarra and performed by Claire Chase, unreleased 7. Sunbird composed by Susie Ibarra and performed by Claire Chase, unreleased 8. On the Overgrown Path, JW VIII/17, Book 1: I. Our Eveningscomposed by Leos Janacek and performed by Rudolf Firkusny 9. Yenna performed by Ali Farka Tourรฉ 10. Horse Sings From Cloud composed and performed by Pauline Oliveros
Will Thomas, Writer & Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Claire Chase and Ara Guzelimian, Guests
OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks
EPISODE 2
In this episode, cellist Jay Campbell discusses the adventurous programming of the Ojai Music Festival (June 5-8) and his recurring role on the Libbey Bowl stage with the JACK Quartet. Composer Annea Lockwood then takes us on an aural journey down rivers and bayous as she shares about her decades-long trials of recording the wind.
Music featured – 1. Chambers composed by Marcos Balter and performed by the JACK Quartet, unreleased recording 2. The Holy Presence of Joan DโArccomposed by Julius Eastman and performed by Seth Parker Woods/Wild Up 3. Sky Islands composed by Susie Ibarra, unreleased recording 4. Eastre composed by Autechre 5. Bayou-Borne composed by Annea Lockwood and performed by Ensemble Maze 6. Housatonic River Recording by composer Annea Lockwood, unreleased 7. Wind by composer Cathy Lane 8. Arctic Winds by composer Maggi Payne
Will Thomas, Writer & Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Jay Campbell & Annea Lockwood, Guests
OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks
EPISODE 1
We launch season five of OJAICAST as your host Christopher Noxon dives into the lineup of the 2025 Ojai Music Festival (June 5-8). He joins composer-in-residence Marcos Balter and talks about writing music at a young age, audience participation in his music, and collaborating with this yearโs Music Director and longtime friend Claire Chase.
Music featured – 1. Processional performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter) 2. Panโs Flute performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter) 3. Harmony of the Spheres performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter) 4. Alone performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter), unreleased 5. Chambers performed by Spektral Quartet (composer Marcos Balter) 6. Sugarcane Fields Forever by Caetano Veloso 7. Processional performed by Claire Chase (composer Marcos Balter)
Will Thomas, Writer & Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Marcos Balter, Guest
ABOUT OUR HOST Christopher Noxon writes and paints in Ojai, CA. His solo show โTerra Incognitaโ opens at Oxford House Projects in LA on May 17. Heโs on the board of the Ojai Valley Museum and the Ojai Studio Artists. Heโs the author and illustrator of Good Trouble: Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook,Plus One: A Novel and Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons Cupcakes and the Reinvention of the American Grown-Up. His work has been featured in the New Yorker, the Atlantic and the New York Times Magazine.
ABOUT OUR WRITER & PRODUCER Will Thomas is a composer, producer and sound artist based in Ojai, CA. He has composed music for TV, Film scores, movie trailers and has released multiple albums on labels Thrill Jockey, Hydrogen Dukebox and his own Neutral Music imprint. He is a frequent collaborator including works with Joseph Arthur, Roger Eno, Natalie Walker, and Jason Bentley. His music has been featured in countless programs on Netflix, HBO, SyFy, NBC, and he won the award for Best Score at the Filmquest Film Festival for The Haunted Swordsman. Most recently, he has experimented with mechanical instrument making and sound art installations.
Maddyโs Thursday Afternoon/Evening Patron Services and Development Associate, Intern Alum 2021
โMy ideal Thursday at the Festival would start with attending the Ojai Talks, then heading downtown to find a good parking spot between Fox and Signal Streets. Iโd wander around the Ojai Community Farmerโs Market, probably buying some fresh-cut flowers and Bonito Coffee beans for the week.
Iโd then meet friends for dinner at Izakaya Full Moon, an intimate spot serving Japanese favorites and an ever-rotating list of specials. The Corn Kagi-age, Agedashi Tofu, and the Chefโs Choice Nigiri are my favorite menu items. Dinner would be followed by a walk to Libbey Park, setting up a spot on the Lawn with cozy blankets and a glass of wine, and enjoying the first concert of the Ojai Music Festival.โ
Anna’s Saturday Morning Director of Philanthropy
“My perfect Saturday starts with Morning Meditation at the Ojai Meadows Preserveโthereโs something peaceful and grounding about beginning the day surrounded by nature and music. Afterward, Iโd head into town, find parking, and grab a coffee from Pinholeโs coffee van in Libbey Park. After the morning concert, Iโd take a scenic drive to Upper Ojai for lunch at The SummitDrive-In. My go-to is the Western BBQ bacon burger, and you have to try one of their famous milkshakes. Iโd take lunch to go and drive up to Avatar Point at Meher Mount for one of the most breathtaking views in Ojai. Then, it’s time to head back into downtown Ojai for more Festival events!โ
“For me, the best way to experience the Ojai Music Festival is by embracing the townโs natural beauty, eclectic shops, and local flavorsโpreferably by bike.
My day begins by browsing my favorite vintage and thrift shops on foot. Stops include Gratitude Vintageand Help of Ojai, where I dig for treasures, especially vinyl records. Just in time for the 3:30 PM Beyond the Bowl concert, I pedal over to Ojai Valley School, taking in the fresh air and rolling hills along the way.
For dinner, my go-to is Zadieeโs at Soule Park Golf Course, located at the eastern end of the bike path. If the weatherโs warm, I always request a patio seat for the stunning views. My usual order? An iced tea and either the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich or the Baja Tacos. As the sun sets, I meander back along the bike path toward Libbey Park, where I unwind in the Green Room in the Park, hoping to catch a surprise musical pop-up before the 8PM Libbey Bowl concert.
Itโs a perfect Ojai dayโone filled with music, nature, and the townโs unique charm.”
Fiona’s Sunday Afternoon Producer and Artistic Administrator
“I’d start by shopping at the upstairs portion of Bungalow, a local shop featuring handmade goods and gifts. The upstairs room has amazingly high-quality clothing items. Across the street from Bungalow is Move Sanctuary, where Annea Lockwood’s Housatonic sound installation is playing.
From there, I’d head up to Shelf Road for an easy hike with a great view of Ojai that isnโt too far out of town. Then it’s back into downtown to end the afternoon with a 30-minute chair massage at the Relaxing Station before the Festival’s final concert.”
ONE NIGHT ONLY: THU May 15 7PM-10:30PM Light and Space Yoga in Ojai
The Ojai Music Festival partners with The Listening Garden for an evening of immersive sonic exploration led by 2025 Music Director and flutist Claire Chase. The event invites attendees to participate in the legacy of experimental and electronic music pioneer, Pauline Oliveros.
Joining Claire Chase will be sound artist Colloboh and dublab founder Mark “Frosty” McNeil to begin and end the evening.
Naom’s Kitchen bento-style Japanese dinner available for purchase, as well as complimentary tea ceremony & wine.
Tickets are $47/person. Limited seating available. Hurry now to save your spot.
Described by The New York Times as โthe most important flutist of our time,โ Claire Chase is a musician, interdisciplinary artist, and educator. One of todayโs most generative forces of new music, Chase returns to Ojai later this season as Musical Director of the 2025 Ojai Music Festival.
Chase has recently performed as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and London Philharmonia. She is currently collaborating with The Getty Center on a public offering inspired by the listening philosophies of Pauline Oliveros (PST ART x Science Collide festival, 2024-25).
Colloboh is a Nigerian-born, LA-based sound artist, producer, composer, and DJ. While known for his modular synth works, heโs broken new ground in experimental performance with recent collaborations with Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Getty Center.
Mark โFrostyโ McNeil is a DJ, radio host, sonic curator, and founder of dublab radio, a pioneering web-based radio station exploring wide-spectrum music since 1999. McNeill currently serves as a Creative Producer for Los Angeles Philharmonic.
About Pauline Oliveros + Deep Listening
Pauline Oliveros was a sonic visionary; her work in composition, improvisation, and teaching was imaginative, ground-breaking and largely dedicated to accessibility.
Deep Listening describes philosophies and practices that explore the space between the physical phenomenon of hearing and the conscious practice of listening. It includes listening and sounding exercises, sonic meditations, and interactive performance. In the words of Oliveros, โDeep Listening involves going below the surface of what is heard, expanding to the whole field of sound while finding focus. This is the way to connect with the acoustic environment, all that inhabits it, and all that there is.โ
Everything you need to know to immerse yourself in and prepare for the 2025 Ojai Music Festival!
CONTENTS
I)The Basics Your introduction to the Festival II) Composer Context Whoโs who and who will be in town at the 2025 Festival III) Podcast Listen now to delve even deeper IV) Book Recs Read your way to understanding more about 2025 V)Suggested Films Things to add to your watchlist before the Festival VI)Free Concert Livestream Enjoy all Libbey Bowl concerts in the comfort of your home for free
VII)Between the Downbeats What to do and where to go between concerts VIII) Quick Links A few final tips to point you in the right direction
The Basics
Since 1947, the Ojai Music Festival has offered four days of innovative programming each spring, blending contemporary, classical, and experimental approaches to music-making. A new music director curates the Festival annually, bringing fresh perspectives and fostering collaboration among world-class artists. Core concerts take place at the historic Libbey Bowl, with additional free and off-site eventsโincluding intimate theatrical concerts, thoughtful symposiums, and family-friendly pop-upsโthroughout Ojai.
For the 2025 Festival, June 5-8, the music director is Claire Chase: expert flutist, interdisciplinary artist, and community-focused educator. Among many other accolades, Chase is known for launching the 24-year commissioning projectDensity 2036. Now in its 12th year, Density reimagines the solo flute literature through commissions, performances, recordings, and educational initiatives. Works that are part of Density 2036 punctuate the Festival’s programming in Thursday night’s opening concert with Marcos Balter’s Pan and on Friday afternoon with Liza Lim’s Sex Magic.
Under Claire Chase, this Festival’s programming centers on responses to landscape as caretakers and participants, and celebrates collaboration and dialogue across multiple generations of composers and performers. The 2025 Festival includes four World Premieres of works by Susie Ibarra, Tania Leรณn, Terry Riley, and Bahar Royaee; the US Premiere of Liza Limโs Cardamom; eight West Coast Premieres; and seminal works by John Coltrane, Julius Eastman, Sofia Gubaidulina, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and more.
Central threads of this year include:
Connection to and conservation of ecology and nature
Using music as a means to symbolize an idea or meaning
Meditative and mindful contemplation
Deep listening
What to listen for:
Unique instrumentation, such as Claire Chaseโs towering contrabass flute, or the use of bamboo as a percussive element in Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands
Extended techniques of traditional instruments, such as percussive flute playing or playing a cymbal with a double bass bow
Music that is part of or descended from minimalism, a 20th-century compositional movement that emphasizes repetition, drones, and/or gradual shifting between notes or techniques
Microtonal music (not necessarily atonal), which is music that utilizes pitches in between the 12 in the equal-tempered European chromatic scale
Here is a bit of context about each composer. Something special about this year’s Festival is that many of the featured composers will be in attendance, so be on the lookout for them at Ojai Chats, in the audience, or around town.
Marcos Balter
Works performed at Festival events: THU 8PM, SAT 10:30 AM
Marcos Balterโs Pan is a central work of Claire Chaseโs epic Density 2036 project. The Brazilian-American composerโs work for solo flute, live electronics, and community participation evokes the life and death of the Greek god Pan (himself a player of flutes) in a collaborative work that has elements of theatrical ritual. Here is an evocative description of the work by the writer Lisa Hirsch.
Marcosโs Alone for solo flute and wine glasses (Thursday at 8pm) will be the first music to be heard at this yearโs Festival, followed later on the same program by Pan. In addition, the JACK Quartet will play Marcosโs Chambers to open the Saturday morning 10:30am program.
In attendance at 2025 Festival Works performed at Festival events: SAT 8AM, SUN 10:30AM
Susie has had a wide-ranging career as both percussionist and composer in a wide vocabulary of genres, with her collaborators ranging from Wadada Leo Smith and John Zorn to Pauline Oliveros.
Here is a sampling of Susie in action in her extended album titled Talking Gong. First, Sunbird, written for Claire Chase and to be heard in a different version this year in Ojai on the Sunday early morning concert. And then, Paniwala from the same work, with Susie Ibarra joined by pianist Alex Peh, who is also a key collaborator in Sky Islands.
In attendance at 2025 Festival Works performed at Festival events: FRI 8PM, SAT 10:30AM, SUN 8AM, SUN 5:30PM
A Kanaka Maoli composer, violist, interdisciplinary artist, and music writer based in Hawaii, Leilehua Lanzilotti creates open spaces for deep listening and connection โ with the natural environment, language, and community. Her music often emerges from a broader practice of storytelling and stewardship, centering Indigenous values to repair erasure and reimagine the concert experience. Lanzilotti’s piece koสปu inoa will begin the Friday Evening concert in Libbey Bowl.
In the Hawaiian language, koสปu inoa translates as โmy nameโ or โis my name,โ according to the composer โ a simple phrase that carries the weight of identity, ancestry, and presence. Lanzilottiโs own first name, Leilehua, signifies โa garland of lehua blossomsโ โ โthe first plant to grow back after the volcano destroys all vegetation,โ she explains. โLooking beyond the direct translation, it means โcreating beauty out of destruction.โโ
Lanzilotti calls this piece, which is of flexible duration, โa homesick bariolageโ โ referring to the rapid alternation between strings to produce a shimmering effect โ based on Hawaiสปi Aloha. With lyrics written in the 19th century by Makua Laiana, the anthem is โusually sung at the end of large concerts or gatherings, with everyone joining hands and swaying side to side as they sing,โ but here, as Lanzilotti notes, it serves to invite introductions. โHawaiสปi Aloha evokes not only a homesickness for place and sound, but this action of coming together โ a homesickness that weโre all feeling right now, where music and human interaction are home.โ Listen to the piece and read more about it on Lanzilotti’s website here.
In attendance at 2025 Festival Works performed at Festival events: FRI 8AM,SAT 8PM, SUN 10:30AM, SUN 5:30PM
Friday, June 6 begins with an early morning program featuring the JACK Quartet performing, among other treasures, Abanico, a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tania Leรณn. This concert is one of our OJAI DAWNS, an annual intimate concert in our farthest venue from downtown: Zalk Theater (on the stunning campus of Beasant Hill School).
The sound of a solo instrument is expanded and multiplied in this piece for violin and interactive electronics. Abanico takes its name from the Spanish word for โfanโ โ a reference both to the decorative folding fans found throughout Spanish and Cuban culture and to the swirling motion at the heart of the piece. That sense of motion and elegance informs the music, which Leรณn describes as โa bouncing scherzo of images, using sound as a mirror of physical motion. It is built of emerging lines that sometimes mutate into rhythmical pulses. Juxtapositions of bouncing textures become echo effects; memories, associations, and images of abanico dancing in mid-air.โ With a nod to her Cuban roots, Leรณn incorporates a brief quotation from a 1920s song by Eusebio Delfรญn.
Works performed at Festival events: FRI 8AM, FRI 2:30PM, SAT 8PM
In its West Coast premiere, Australian composer Liza Limโs Density 2036 contribution Sex Magic for solo contrabass flute and electronics centers Friday afternoon. Inspired by Claire Chaseโs towering contrabass flute (Bertha), Sex Magic evokes and celebrates womenโs 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. Find more about this piece on Lim’s website.
Saturday evening’s concert concludes with Liza Limโs large-scale How Forests Think, a work inspired by the imagery of ancient forests as vibrant, symbiotic communities that, as Lim writes, โnourish 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.โ Find more about this piece on Liza Lim’s website.
In attendance at 2025 Festival Works performed at Festival events:THU 8PM, SAT & SUN 2-5PM, SAT 10:30PM
Annea Lockwood is a composer known for integrating the interplay of sound in nature into her musical creations. The 2025 Festival opens on Thursday, June 5, with Annea Lockwoodโs Bayou-Borne, an affectionate tribute to a collaborator and dear friend, Pauline Oliveros. Her piece Spirit Catchers will be played in a special late-night setting at the Ojai Playhouse after the Saturday Evening concert, How Forests Think. Try to arrive with time to grab a snack or drink from the newly remodeled historical cinema!
Lockwoodโs sound map of the Housatonic River, captured as a four-channel sound installation, will be installed and played from 2-5PM on both Saturday and Sunday during the Festival in the serene pilates/yoga space of Move Sanctuary. Here are Lockwood’s notes explaining the creation of the piece:
“A Sound Map of the Housatonic River is a four-channel sound installation; it is an aural tracing of the river from its sources in the Berkshires, Massachusetts, to Long Island Sound, Connecticut. Each recorded site is located on a wall map with a number. Beside the map is the corresponding number, followed by the time at which that site can be heard, the place name, and where the recording was made. The installation was commissioned by the Housatonic River Museum, a project in development in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.”
In attendance at 2025 Festival Works performed at Festival events: FRI 10:30AM, SAT & SUN 3:30 & 2:30PM
The Libbey Bowl concert on Friday celebrates the old made new in Anna Thorvaldsdottirโs Impressions for harpsichord and ends with a summit meeting between Craig Taborn and Cory Smythe, two dazzlingly inventive composers and pianists whose worlds encompass creative music, free jazz, new music, and beyond.
The afternoon of Saturday, June 7, is punctuated by the West Coast premiere of Craig Tabornโs Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano, and electronics. Tabornโs critically acclaimed Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms was inspired by a dream in which plants awake, blossom, grow, and change as the dreamer walks through a garden. (A second performance of Tabornโs Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms will be offered on Sunday afternoon, June 8.)
For the past three years, the Ojai Music Festival has produced a podcast, OJAICAST, which aims to prepare listeners for the Festival by contextualizing the composers, performers, and intentions behind them all. In the spring of 2025, the Ojai Community Radio station, KOJY, was founded. Their mission is to provide Ojai and the surrounding communities with a freeform platform for music, community voices, education, and emergency broadcasting, without ads or commercial influence.
For this fourth installment of our podcast, each episode will first air as a radio show on KOJY and then be available for streaming. This installment is also special in that the artists and composers of the 2025 Festival will be featured on the show in conversation with host Chris Noxon, a visual artist and writer based in Ojai. It will be produced by Will Thomas, composer and producer, also based in Ojai. Listen to it live on KOJY on Fridays starting May 9, or on Spotify or Apple Podcasts anytime after.
In this astonishing book, anthropologist Eduardo Kohn challenges the very foundations of anthropology, calling into question our central assumptions about what it means to be human–and thus distinct from all other life forms. Based on four years of fieldwork among the Runa of Ecuador’s Upper Amazon, Eduardo Kohn draws on his rich ethnography to explore how Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit one of the world’s most complex ecosystems.
Liza Lim’s large-scale work of the same title is the finale of Saturday night’s Libbey Bowl concert. She was inspired to create this piece after reading this book.
A New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Readers Pick #1 New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post and Los Angeles Times Bestseller As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
In Virtual Ojai Talks, Claire Chase mentioned reading this book and feeling inspired by it in her curation of this year’s concerts.
A Year of Deep Listening, Stephanie Loveless (Editor)
365 scores for listening in celebration of the legacy of groundbreaking composer Pauline Oliveros.
A Year of Deep Listening is a publication of 365 scores for listening gathered by the Center for Deep Listening in celebration of the legacy of groundbreaking composer Pauline Oliveros.
Originally begun online, in honor of what would have been Oliverosโ 90th birthday (May 30, 2022), the project shared one score per day across social media for 365 days. The book version of A Year of Deep Listening brings these scores together into one beautiful and historic volume. An expression of the Deep Listening community, the scores were created by over 300 artistsโranging from prize winning composers to ear-minded grocery store clerks, from those who worked closely with Oliveros for decades to those who never met her.
Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice offers an exciting guide to ways of listening and sounding. This book provides unique insights and perspectives for artists, students, teachers, mediators, and anyone interested in how consciousness may be affected by profound attention to the sonic environment. Purchase on Bookshop.org.
Sonic Meditations Sonic Meditations is a set of exercises that aim to help the reader have a deeper understanding of the self through sound-based meditation practices. Purchase on Bookshop.org.
Sounding the Margins Sounding the Margins: Collected Writings 1992-2009 by Pauline Oliveros documents her activity over this period and her advances in electronic and telematic musical performance, improvisation, artificial intelligence, and the role of women in contemporary music. Featuring contributions by John Luther Adams, Monique Buzzartรฉ, and Stuart Dempster. Purchase on Bookshop.org.
Quantum Listening Quantum Listening is a manifesto for listening as activism. Through simple yet profound exercises, Oliveros shows how Deep Listening is the foundation for a radically transformed social matrix in we act from compassion and peace. This timely new edition brings Oliverosโ vision together with a new Foreword and Introduction by Laurie Anderson and IONE. Purchase on Bookshop.org.
An immersive documentary and profound sensory experience from filmmaker Sam Green that explores the elemental phenomenon of sound. The film is a meditation on the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us.
“Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros” tells the story of the iconic composer, performer, teacher, philosopher, technological innovator and humanitarian, Pauline Oliveros. She was one of the world’s original electronic musicians, one of the only females amongst notable post-war American composers, a master accordion player, a teacher and mentor to musicians, a gateway to music and sound for non-musicians and a technical innovator who helped develop everything from tools that allow musicians to play together while in different countries to software that enables those with severe disabilities to create beautiful music. On the vanguard of contemporary American music for six decades, her story illuminates the pathway to how we got where we are and where the future will take us in the worlds of music, the philosophy of sound, and the art of listening.
Since 2012, the Ojai Music Festival has expanded its global footprint, building a worldwide audience and deepening connections with patrons throughout the year with free live broadcasts. All Libbey Bowl concerts are streamed in real time. Open our website’s homepage at the start time of each concert to view!
Most concerts are available on our YouTube channel after the Festival takes place. Watch livestreams from previous years and stay updated on new Festival videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel below.
Wondering where to go, shop, and eat in between concerts? Use the links below to read what our staff recommends, a full list of our local favorites, and even more recommendations in the mobile app.
“Thereโs no place in the world like Ojai, and there is no gathering of musicians and ideas like the Ojai Festival….the Festival has taken on mythical dimensions for me. โ Claire Chase, 2025 Music Director
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.
A festive opening night with Annea Lockwoodโs Bayou-Borne, an affectionate tribute to Pauline Oliveros, then culminating in Marcos Balterโs Pan, an already iconic work from Claire Chaseโs 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 โ true to the Ojai spirit!
FRI 06|06
8:00AM OJAI DAWNS SOLD OUT Zalk Theater, Beasant Hill School
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 SMYTHECountdowns 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 Thorvaldsdottirโs Impressions for harpsichord as well as a summit meeting between two dazzlingly inventive composer/pianists whose worlds encompass jazz, new music, and beyond.
In its West Coast premiere, Australian composer Liza Limโs Density 2036 contribution Sex Magic for solo contrabass flute and electronics centers Friday afternoon. Inspired by Claire Chaseโs towering contrabass flute (Bertha), Sex Magic evokes and celebrates womenโs 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.
Leilehua LANZILOTTIkoโu inoa Sofia GUBAIDULINA Mirage: The Dancing Sun Julius EASTMAN The Holy Presence of Joan dโArc Terry RILEY The Holy Liftoff (Realization by Samuel Clay Birmaher)
Music for a โchorus of cellosโ 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 โI feel like this piece sums up a lot of things Iโve worked for.โ
A program centered on the West Coast premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottirโs Ubique for flute, two cellos, piano and electronics, a work of enigmatic lyricism by a composer who is inspired by the โmusical qualities of nature.โ
1:00PM OJAI FILMS Ojai Playhouse
Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros Film by Daniel Weintraub
Annea Lockwoodโs 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 SOLD OUT Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
A concert centered on the West Coast premiere of Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, percussion, 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.
JS BACH Chorale Prelude, Vor deinen Thron, BWV 668 Sofia GUBAIDULINA Meditation on the Bach chorale Vor deinen Thron, BWV 668 Tania LEรNHechizos Liza LIMHow Forests Think
Music by Bach, Sofia Gubaidulina (inspired by Bach) and Tania Leรณn, 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, โthat 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.
Christopher OTTO Angelorum Psalat, after Rodericus Austin WULLIMAN Daveโs Hocket: For Guillaume and Arvo Susie IBARRANest Box (World premiere) Commissioned by Ojai Music Festival and Music Director Claire Chase in honor of Steven Schickโs 70th birthday Tania LEรNRituรกl Susie IBARRASky 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 Ibarraโs 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
An interactive concert featuring Festival artists on flutes, saxophone, trombone, sheng, and an interactive bird call jam. Kids of all ages are welcome.
Annea Lockwoodโs 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
A concert centered on the West Coast premiere of Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, percussion, 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.
Leilehua LANZILOTTIkoโu inoa Pauline OLIVEROS The Witness Tania LEรNSingsong (World premiere of solo version) Terry RILEY Pulsefield 3 (World premiere)
An exuberant all-company 2025 Festival finale includes music by Leilehua Lanzilotti, Pauline Oliverosโs The Witness, and the world premiere of a new version of Tania Leรณnโs Singsong adapted for solo flute. The Festival culminates in the world premiere of Terry Rileyโs Pulsefield 3, in a joyous celebration of the composerโs 90th birthday.
Each year, the Ojai Music Festival Arts Management Internship Program welcomes a dozen college students and recent graduates to go behind the scenes of a renowned summer music festival. Interns work closely with the staff and production team, providing critical support and simultaneously gaining invaluable hands-on experience and skills for their future careers.
The Festival invites students from all fields of study to apply for our internship program. The program is ideally suited for curious, motivated individuals who are interested in the diversity of possible careers in either the arts, live event management, or the nonprofit world. Festival interns have gone on to have successful careers in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Those who have gone on to work in the arts have done so at organizations across the country, including the AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Pacific Symphony, Early Music Guild of Seattle, and Voices of Change, as well as forged new paths as entrepreneurial performing artists and composers.
Each intern receives during their two-week internship:
An immersive experience within a world-renowned music festival in addition to inside knowledge into the many different pieces that come together for a successful weekend of concerts
Training for their areas of responsibility from staff as well as leaders in the field
Free and discounted tickets to Festival concerts (as much as work schedule and ticket availability allow)
Housing and/or homestay in the beautiful Ojai Valley and most meals during the Festival
Stipend
Production Fellowship
Previous experience in production and/or previous internship with Ojai Music Festival is strongly preferred. The production intern fellow will get hands-on experience in details that help create a successful experience for musicians, patrons, and other production staff.
Internship Opportunities
Each of the Festivalโs internship opportunities places interns in a specific area of responsibility, enabling them to gain specialized experience. However, the multilayered nature of the Festival means that interns will often assist in many different departments, as projects require. Read the brief descriptions below to see what might best interest you and indicate your interests in order of preference when you apply. The โgood fit forโ is not at all a requirement, just a suggestion.
Audio/Sound
The audio/sound intern works with the production team and the sound designer for the Libbey Bowl concerts.
A good fit for: interns interested in gaining experience in sound design and logistics.
Development and Special Events
Development and special events interns work with the Director of Development to produce the various social and donor events throughout the Festival. They also manage RSVP lists, coordinate and schedule vendors, create materials, and assist with other fundraising projects.
A good fit for: interns interested in gaining experience in special events coordination and fundraising.
Patron Services – Box Office
Patron services interns work in the box office, not only selling tickets, but also serving as a guide to the Festival experience for ticket buyers, donors, and community members.
A good fit for: interns who thrive in a fast-paced environment and are interested in gaining customer service, communications, database, and hospitality experience.
Patron Experience – Front-of-House
Patron Experience interns work with the Front-of-House team including the House Manager and Lead Usher to provide a welcoming and hospitable experience for Festival patrons, with attention to safety and security measures.
A good fit for: interns interested in gaining experience in event coordination and gaining experience in patron interaction.
Live Stream
These interns work with our live stream crew which provides a high-quality online broadcast of concerts during the Festival. Live stream interns are also responsible for helping with graphics related to live stream and can handle working with the film crew. Knowledge of Photoshop, Google Docs, I-Movie, and Final Cut Pro.
A good fit for: interns interested in gaining experience in video editing and live-stream, film work.
Stage
Stage interns work backstage and assist Festival stage managers in various performance venues.
A good fit for: interns interested in gaining experience in stage management.
Operations
The Operations interns work with the Operations Manager to provide physical and organizational support, including interfacing with the park manager, producer, administration staff, and patrol officers. They are responsible for assisting with signage and off-site communications.
A good fit for: interns looking to gain experience in the hands-on, behind the scenes workings of the Festival.
Production
The production intern works with the Festival Producer to coordinate artists and their needs throughout the Festival. They also work on stage and with the Stage Manager to help produce the Festivalโs concerts, manage rehearsals and performances, stage changes, and coordinate between lighting and sound engineers.
A good fit for: interns interested in gaining experience in concert production.
Public Relations and Marketing
Marketing interns work with the Director of Marketing & Communications and other marketing team members in communicating with and coordinating press in the days leading up to and during the Festival. They also assist with the Festivalโs social media presence during the Festival and creating and distributing marketing materials.
A good fit for: interns interested in gaining experience in public relations, marketing, and social media.
Complete the internship application (below) Fill out the forms, select your department interests (listed above), respond to the two essay questions, and return with a cover letter and resume. The application form is at the bottom of this page.
Submit two letters of recommendation Letters from college faculty should include both how the applicant would benefit from the Internship and how the Internship would strengthen the applicant’s specific academic and career goals. Letters from college faculty must be on school letterhead. These letters may be uploaded with the application or sent to:
Internship Requirements: Applicants must be 18 or over and current college (undergraduate or graduate) students. Knowledge of classical music is suggested but not required. Interns commit to 2 weeks in Ojai and must be available during the Festival week (June 8-14, 2026). Please indicate on your application if you have special schedule restrictions.
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At the Ojai Music Festival, we thrive on experimentation and discoveryโboth in the music we present and in how we engage with our community. Each year, we take creative risks to offer a unique and transformative experience. But none of this would be possible without our supporters, our passionate music lovers, our community.
Feedback from our patrons is essential to our growth and evolution. Whether itโs thoughts on a particular performance, insights into the festival experience, or suggestions for how we can better serve our audience, their perspective is invaluable.
“Learned a lot. Enjoyed the Libbey Bowl area for relaxed environment, easy parking and other amenities nearby.”
“I loved the music and the entire experience. I can’t wait until next year and might attend a few of this year’s concerts as well.”
“We enjoyed meeting new people and we enjoyed running into people we know but didn’t know that they have attended the Festival for several years (or longer).”
“Every year we wonder how we could possibly top this next year, but it happens – the magic keeps growing!”
“An introduction for me to hear new artists perform whom I ordinarily wouldnโt not be familiar with and to be awakened to new sounds and proficiency of the artists.”
“Lovely, enriching experience for the whole family.”
“It means satisfying my curiosity. It means great people. It means discovery. It means good food. It means beautiful setting. It means staggering artistry.”
As this year rapidly winds down, I wanted to take a moment to savor some favorite moments and glimpses of the 2024 Festival with the wondrous Mitsuko Uchida as Music Director. It was a particularly joyous and rewarding Festival, with the members of Mahler Chamber Orchestra turning up in every corner of Ojai, delighting in their California adventure. Who would have thought a European-based chamber orchestra would have a Johnny Cash cover band in their ranks! Before we let the year recede in memory, here are some personal snapshots of a few public and private moments that I cherish.
Behind the Scenes
photo by Ara Guzelimian.
Mitsuko Uchida, a musician of boundless curiosity and exuberance, getting an orientation on percussion instruments by Festival artist Sae Hashimoto.
photo by Ara Guzelimian.
Mitsuko is one of the most exacting of artists when it comes to pianos. We were very fortunate to have the superb piano technician Joel Bernache as our house piano โdoctorโ to look after the splendid concert Steinway. Here are both Mitsuko and Joel in action!
Joyful Moments
photo by Ara Guzelimian.
Violinist Alexandra Preucil (with bunny ears) with members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in their delightful childrenโs concert in Libbey Park. A few moments after the concert ended, the tiny daughter of friends spied the violinist walking through the park (without the ears!) โ she pointed with delight and said, โthereโs the bunny,โ at which point the extraordinarily kind Alexandra Preucil came to visit with her.
photo by Ara Guzelimian.
One of my favorite new traditions at the Festival is the early morning free meditation concerts at Chapparal Auditorium on Ojai Avenue. Who knew that a hearty audience would turn up at 8 a.m. on a weekend morning to hear some quiet, reflective new music? Never underestimate the Ojai audience! Hereโs cellist Jay Campbell with a rapt morning audience.
Photo by Timothy Teague.
I particularly love this photo as it captures the ebullient good spirits felt by all at the 2024 Ojai Festival. We are very lucky in the company we keep.
Looking Ahead
All of us here send you our wholehearted thanks for creating this very special community that is the Ojai Music Festival. Iโm always fond of saying the miracle of Ojai is this improbable standard of artistic excellence and innovation that happens to take place in a lovely small town park, with perhaps the most open-eared and open-hearted audience to be found anywhere. The Festival depends to a very large degree โ 75% โ to contributed income. Please consider making a year-end contribution to help us start the new year with a solid foundation of support. We are grateful to each of you for your continued engagement and so look forward to seeing you in the coming year.
Think about surprising someone with a Libbey Bowl Pass for the Ojai Music Festival in 2025, scheduled for June 5-8 featuring Music Director Claire Chase. From Libbey Bowl passes to individual tickets, you can customize an unforgettable musical journey, perfect for your loved one’s musical tastes. This gift promises not just a fantastic event but also an immersive experience in the enchanting Ojai!
A cozy hoodie or blanket to stay warm. A baseball cap or t-shirt to add to your collection. Purchase your OMF merchandise as a gift for someone special or treat yourself!
The promo code MERRY automatically adds an additional 15% discount. Order soon to ensure it arrives before the holidays.
Mitsuko Uchida and Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the 2024 Festival Finale Concert | Photo by Timothy Teague
It begins with your commitment.
Because of your curiosity and adventurous spirit, Ojai becomes a gathering place where the worldโs most innovative musicians connect with an inspired community. You make it possible for us to create transformational experiences year after year.
Your gift today can help sustain this extraordinary tradition.
Alexi Kenney at SOUND+WALK, free member event in Ojai, spring 2024 | Photo by Elizabeth Herring
It begins with your generosity.
Because of you, the Festivalโs impact reaches far beyond its four unforgettable days.
In 2025, nearly 3,000 students and seniors in the Ojai Valley will experience the joy of music through our BRAVO Education and Community Programs. Year-round events will foster deeper connections locally, while free livestreams will bring Ojaiโs magic to thousands worldwide.
Your gift today ensures that this impact will grow even further.
Claire Chase, 2025 Ojai Festival Music Director
It begins with your adventurous spirit.
Because of you, Claire Chase will present a bold, inventive program inspired by Ojaiโs natural beauty and sonic landscapes. Together, we will welcome a vibrant, multigenerational collective of composers, performers, and improvisers to create an unforgettable experience.
Your support makes all this possible. Please join us in creating another extraordinary Festival season by making your year-end gift.
BRAVO Music Van | Photo by Cindy BurtonBRAVO Music Van | Photo by Cindy Burton2024 Festival Finale Concert | Photo by Timothy Teague
A Small Expense with a Great Impact
Throughout the year, the Ojai Music Festival prioritizes community, artistic curiosity, and innovative programs, culminating with our treasured Festival in June. The Festivalโs year-round programs are made possible by donations from our loyal audience members, like you!
Recurring gifts allow you to give at the level and timing that works best with both your budget and schedule. They simultaneously allow the Festival to rely on a consistent, year-round revenue stream.
I hope this Thanksgiving week finds you well, with time to reflect and savor the joys of life. This is one of my favorite times of the year โ the mornings are suddenly chillier, the sweaters come out of the drawers, the afternoon light is longer and lower on the horizon, we are perhaps more keenly aware of the passing of the year.
It is also a moment to pause and express gratitude. Among lifeโs many joys, I am deeply grateful for my life in music, keeping company with the most inspiring of musicians and fellow listeners. I started coming to the Ojai Festival when I was barely out of my teens and the lovely community that is created each year in Libbey Park is high on my list of treasurable experiences, an annual tradition that renews and surprises at every turn.
Much of life lately has been at a high decibel level, what with a singularly contentious election year, war and devastation of loss in so many parts of the world, and more locally, the sirens signaling an unusual wildfire season from Camarillo to New York (!). Faced with so much troubling noise, my response has always been to turn to music. So, in that spirit, I offer what I call a โquiet playlist of thanksgiving,โ featuring a cross-section of wondrous Ojai artists from the last ten years.
This very personal selection reminds me of beauty, a deep inner life, and the things that we cherish, and which endure apart from all the noise. The tone is set from the start by our 2025 Music Director Claire Chase with Felipe Laraโs Meditation and Calligraphy and includes such treasured Ojai artists as Vรญkingur Olafsson, the Attacca Quartet (playing John Adams), Julia Bullock, Vijay Iyer, Steven Schick, Mitsuko Uchida, and the JACK Quartet. I want to single out one particular track โ Rainy Day from the Silk Road Ensembleโs just-released album American Railroad. One of my fondest memories of the 2023 Festival was the magical duet between Rhiannon Giddens and Wu Man at the closing concert. This is that very piece, a souvenir of a magical Ojai pairing.
I offer this music as our gift, with much gratitude to each of you for all you do to create and nurture this Festival community.
Join us for a special occasion featuring former Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris and now published author. “Always the Music” is the fascinating story of Tom Morrisโ personal metamorphosis through the highest levels of the world of classical music, his learning and insights into how storied musical institutions function, great artists create, and audiences engage. The final chapter synthesizes Morrisโ career lessons into an unequivocal but thoughtful prescription for the American orchestra. Mostly, though, this is the entertaining story of one manโs lifelong love affair with great music and the people who make it.
THU December 5.2025 | 5:30-7PM | Ojai Music Festival Lounge (201 S. Signal Street)
5:30PM: Enjoy a complimentary wine bar
6:00PM: Book reading and interview with Tom Morris and host Jeremy Turner, followed by a book signing.
We look forward to sharing this special evening with you!
This event is free to Ojai Music Festival friends. Limited seating. RSVP by clicking the link below.
Thomas W. Morris had a distinguished career in the music business, having long service as chief executive of the Boston Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra, as well as artistic director of Californiaโs Ojai Music Festival. His work in Ojai was highly recognized for the span and creativity of programming, as well as the breadth of artists with whom he collaborated.. He was one of the three founding partners of Spring for Music, an innovative orchestra festival held at Carnegie Hall from 2011 to 2014, and he has consulted nationally and internationally with over 75 orchestras and performing organizations. With a Bachelor of the Arts degree from Princeton University, as well as an MBA from the Wharton School, Morris is well versed in music, finance, marketing, fundraising, management and leadership. He is frequently sought out by major media as an expert to comment on music business issues of the day and has been featured in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The New Yorker, and more. A percussionist, he has performed extensively in Boston Symphony, Boston Pops and the Blossom Festival Band. Thomas W. Morris | About
About Jeremy Turner
Composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Turner is known for creating innovative and diverse music for the moving image and the stage. He is a two time EMMYยฎ nominee, has won the Music + Sound Award, an ASCAP Screen Music Award, an International Documentary Association Award, the AICP Award, and has been listed in NPR Musicโs Favorite Songs of the Year. Jeremy regularly writes film and television scores for Disney+, HBO, Netflix, MAX, and Hulu; simultaneously creating concert music and composing for collaborative installations. Recent works include the score for the upcoming MRC film Let’s Have Kids!, directed by Adam Sztykiel; Shorebirds, a piece for solo violin premiered by Simone Porter at Lotusland in Montecito, California; and The Coast of Industry (2024), an art installation that recently opened at MASS MoCA.Performing throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, Jeremy has participated in the music festivals of Aspen, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Seattle, La Jolla, Moab, Sarasota, Interlochen, and Music at Plush. He has conducted twice at the LACMA Art + Film gala, has performed collaborations for Saint Laurent and Dolce & Gabbana, and conducted in New York’s Central Park for Ralph Lauren’s 50th Anniversary.
As a composer, his music has been heard around the world, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. Noted works include The Inland Seas, composed for violinist James Ehnes and mandolinist Chris Thile and commissioned by the Seattle Chamber Music Society; Suite of Unreason, a commission from the Music Academy of the West for their 70th Anniversary season; and a choral work for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Wave Hill in New York. He has written music for The Jack Quartet, yMusic Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider, and Flux Quartet, as well as five installation pieces with the artist Chris Doyle. Jeremy Turner Studio
The 79th Ojai Music Festival, June 5 to 8, 2025, welcomes as Music Director one of todayโs most vital artists flutist Claire Chase. Reflecting on Ojaiโs natural and sonic environment, 2025 Festival programming offers responses to landscape, as caretakers and participants, and welcomes a multi-generational collective of composers, performers, composer-performers, and improvisers, as well as multimedia artists whose works defy categorization.
The 79th Ojai Music Festival, June 5 to 8, 2025, welcomes as Music Director one of todayโs most vital artists flutist Claire Chase. Reflecting on Ojaiโs natural and sonic environment, 2025 Festival programming offers responses to landscape, as caretakers and participants, and welcomes a multi-generational collective of composers, performers, composer-performers, and improvisers, as well as multimedia artists whose works defy categorization.
West Coast Premieres of Liza Limโs Sex Magic, Craig Tabornโs Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms, Anna Thorvaldsdottirโs Ubique, Susie Ibarraโs Sky Islands, and Terry Rileyโs Pulsefield
The Festival celebrates multiple generations of composers, including residencies by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Tania Leรณn, Annea Lockwood, Liza Lim, and Marcos Balter; composer-performers include Craig Taborn (piano), Leilehua Lanzilotti (viola), and Susie Ibarra (percussion)
An all-star โmeta-ensembleโ of Festival musicians including Seth Parker Woods, cello; Wu Wei, sheng; Steven Schick, conductor and percussion; the JACK Quartet (violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Jay Campbell); Katinka Kleijn, cello; Cory Smythe and Alex Peh, piano and keyboards; Ross Karre, percussion; Joshua Rubin, clarinet; M.A. Tiesenga, saxophone and electronic hurdy-gurdy; and members of Australiaโs ELISION Ensemble
The Ojai Music Festival welcomes as Music Director one of todayโs most vital artists, Claire Chase. Reflecting on Ojaiโs 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.
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 Lockwoodโs bayou-borne, an affectionate tribute to Pauline Oliveros, then culminating in Marcos Balterโs Pan, an already iconic work from Claire Chaseโs 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 Leรณn, Liza Lim, and two exciting emerging composers, Vicente Atria and Eduardo Aguilar.
A program of works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Cory Smythe and Craig Taborn that celebrates the old made new in Thorvaldsdottirโs 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 Chaseโs 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.
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 โI feel like this piece sums up a lot of things Iโve worked for.โ
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 Thorvaldsdottirโs Ubique for flute, two cellos, piano and electronics, a work of enigmatic lyricism by a composer who is inspired by the โmusical qualities of nature.โ
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 Leรณn, 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, โthat 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.โ
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 Ibarraโs 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 Oliverosโ The Witness and the West Coast premiere of Terry Rileyโs Pulsefield as the joyous ending.
Programs and artists are subject to change. Schedule as of October 8, 2024.
THU November 7.2024 | 5-7PM | Museum of Ventura County (100 East Main St, Ventura)
It was a mesmerizing evening with flutist Emi Ferguson, a favorite of Ojai Music Festival audiences, on November 7 at the Museum of Ventura County.
After enjoying the company of others and exploring the museumโs latest exhibits, Emi led attendees through a beautiful journey of the flute through time and place. Special thanks to Emi for creating a playlist of the program and other fun resources to come back to time and time again when we need the beauty of music to give us comfort and joy.
Become a docent and guide tours at the Holiday Home Tour, or sign up to help at the Holiday Marketplace on November 15 & 16, 2025.
Serving as a Docent at one of our four homes is a FUN way to volunteer! As a docent, you have an opportunity to view a beautiful home, meet new people, and get to know members of the Ojai Festival Women’s Committee.
Volunteering at the marketplace involves helping with load-in and load-out, and assisting staff and vendors with any other needs. Note that some marketplace shifts may require heavy lifting.
Each shift is a 3.5-hour commitment, and you can sign up for more than one. We encourage you to sign up with a spouse or a friend!
Sign Up Today!
In an effort to use less paper, you can sign up online via the button below.
Top: Jolly Boy Threads, The Whole 9, Sunrise Via Lola Bottom: Pixie Candle Studio, Rosehip Ramble, Surf Gems
Meet the vendors! All of the following small businesses, artists, and artisans will be participating in this year’s Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace. The Marketplace is free and open to the public at Libbey Park, November 16 & 17, 2024, from 10am – 4:30 pm. Join us for gift shopping and holiday fun!
NEW! Convenient, no-hassle check-out directly at vendor booths!
Zero-waste & sustainable global goods vendor: up-cycled & plastic free alternatives to everyday items using natural materials including bowls, utensils, hammoks, and more
Sound healing tools such as singing bowls, therapy drums, and crystal bowls, as well as bracelets, smudge sticks, incense, dream catchers, and eco-friendly ethnic accessories.
Original, one-of-a-kind Kinetic Sculptures (also called, “mobiles”) hand crafted from Semi-Precious Gemstones and Crystals. There is a singular comment when people see these in person: “I have never seen anything like this before”!
Organic soaps, soy candles, wax melts, botanical bath salts and room mists with unique designs and quality scents inspired by nature and many beautiful aspects of Ojai
Locally sourced personal care and home goods capturing the quality of heritage heirloom botanicals (including Ventura County citrus and lavender) farmed in California and fresh local beeswax
Artist in Residence, Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, making Chumash music with students
In 2023, the Ojai Music Festival’s BRAVO Education and Community Program was honored to accept a grant from The Ojai Women’s Fund for our Artist in Residence Program during our 2023 school year. The Ojai Womenโs Fund is a volunteer collective Giving Circle dedicated to making substantial grants on an annual basis. The recipient organizations target critical needs in the Ojai Valley (focus areas include the arts, education, the environment, health services, and social services).
The following article was shared in the Ojai Women’s Fund August 2024 Newsletter.
Ojai Festivals, LTD. Artists in Residence Program, $15,000
The Ojai Music Festival Artists-in-Residence program has brought the joy of live music into the classrooms of Ojai’s children. Our grant enabled about 450 OUSD students from Topa Topa and Mira Monte Elementary Schools in Ojai and Sunset Elementary School in Oak View to have a personal experience with musicians right in their own classrooms.
The artists, Julie Tumamait-Stenslie with Chumash music, Rosanne Forgette with drums, and Ruben Salinas on saxophone, shared their music and instruments to build a relationship with music that deepens the love of music. At each interactive Artists-in-Residence presentation, the musicians talk with the students about the instruments they play, the history and cultural background of the music they perform, and their paths to becoming professional artists. Other artists who participate in the program include Kathleen Robertson (violin), Dave Cipriani (Indian slide guitar), and Shelley Burgon (harp).
“They get exposure whether they want to play an instrument or be an audience member,” said Laura Walter, education coordinator for the Ojai Music Festival, so it becomes an “intentional part of their experience of beauty.” It also opens the door to a pathway for music in their future.
“Thank you for coming to Mira Monte School. I really enjoyed the song you played from Star Wars. Next year, I’m going to try playing the flute. I want to play an instrument for my career too,” wrote student Selena after Salinas’ performance.
“Thank you for letting us play your instruments, telling your stories, and showing us dance,” said Jasper after Tumamait-Stenslie shared her Chumash music and culture.
“Thank you for letting us play all those cool instruments! I liked it when we got to go inside the circle, and we made all the instruments really loud or quiet or medium,โ said Eve when the entire class played percussion instruments.
โThis is why I love working with children,โ said Walter, โbeing together and caring about each other is what is important.โ
Members of AMOC* Bobbi Jene Smith, Julia Bullock, and Or Schraiber.
Julia Bullock,soprano Conor Hanick,piano Bobbi Jene Smith,dancer/choreographer Or Schraiber,dancer/choreographer
The 2022 Ojai Music Festival Music Director, AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), returns to Southern California to present Harawi, Olivier Messiaenโs deeply affecting song cycle for voice and piano in a newly physicalized and dramatized version. Over the course of a dozen interconnected love songs โ the first installment in a series of song cycles known as the composerโs Tristan trilogy โ dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber bring Messiaenโs romantic surrealism to life through their original choreography. All four artists โ Smith and Schraiber, plus pianist Conor Hanick and soprano Julia Bullock โ are contributing members of AMOC*, an adventurous, enterprising collective of artists that has been called โblindingly impressiveโ and โpreternaturally talentedโ by The New York Times. By incorporating dance, this unique production of Harawi opens up Messiaenโs song cycle, adding a new dimension and greater intensity to its portrayal of love and loss.
Harawi was meant to be premiered at the 2022 Ojai Festival by the artists of AMOC* but was waylaid when soprano Julia Bullock became ill with COVID-19 and was unable to travel to California. Now, this moving song cycle will come to life in performances in Los Angeles on October 1, presented in association with the Wallis Theater in Beverly Hills and in Santa Barbara on October 4, produced with our friends at UCSB Arts and Lectures. For UCSB tickets: use promo code OJAI24 and get a 20% discount. Deadline is October 3.
Relive your favorite Libbey Bowl moments from the 2024 Ojai Music Festival. Watch either whole concerts or individual pieces from each concert. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up-to-date with new video releases.
“The Ojai Music Festival has always meant a wonderful blend of tradition and modernism. I look forward to hearing new and exciting modern and contemporary artists and works always followed by a beautiful and reliable classic. Over the years I have met new people and celebrated new friendships with people I may never have met if not for the festival. I look forward to this event each year.”
“An introduction for me to hear new artists perform whom I ordinarily wouldnโt not be familiar with and to be awakened to new sounds and proficiency of the artists.”
