2025 VIrtual Ojai Talks – Meet the Music Director 09.18.24
Get an inside look at the creative process with our free Virtual Ojai Talks, where we celebrate the intersection of music and ideas with the 2025 Festival artists, composers, innovators, and thinkers. Virtual Talks are free and open to the musically curious!
Meet the Music Director
September 18, 2024, 5:30-6:30pm
Zoom
To kick off preparations for the 2025 Ojai Music Festival, June 5-8, join us for a conversation between Music Director Claire Chase and Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian.
RSVP here >
Artist in Residence Program Receives Ojai Women’s Fund Grant
The Ojai Festival’s BRAVO Education and Community Program is honored to accept a grant from The Ojai Women’s Fund for our Artist in Residence Program. The Ojai Women’s 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,” said Eve when the entire class played percussion instruments.
“This is why I love working with children,” said Walter, “being together and caring about each other is what is important.”
AMOC* brings Harawi to California
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 Messiaen’s deeply affecting song cycle for voice and piano in a newly physicalized and dramatized version. Over the course of a dozen interconnected love songs – the first installment in a series of song cycles known as the composer’s Tristan trilogy – dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber bring Messiaen’s romantic surrealism to life through their original choreography. All four artists – Smith and Schraiber, plus pianist Conor Hanick and soprano Julia Bullock – are contributing members of AMOC*, an adventurous, enterprising collective of artists that has been called “blindingly impressive” and “preternaturally talented” by The New York Times. By incorporating dance, this unique production of Harawi opens up Messiaen’s 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.
Revisit the 2024 Libbey Bowl Concerts!
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.
Watch Entire Concerts
Watch Individual Pieces
Ojai Music Festival Receives Grant from Ventura County
OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL RECEIVES
AN ARTS AND CULTURE INVESTMENT FUND GRANT FROM THE COUNTY OF VENTURA AND VENTURA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
Download the PDF version
(July 30, 2024 – OJAI CA) — The Ojai Music Festival is pleased to announce it is a recipient of the Arts and Culture Investment Fund Grant from the County of Ventura and the Ventura County Community Foundation.
The $75,000 grant will support the internationally recognized annual Ojai Music Festival, which presents classical and contemporary music featuring today’s most innovative and celebrated artists; an expansion of its year-round activities, that will include public performances and partnerships in the Ojai community and the broader Ventura County; and the broadening of its BRAVO education program in public schools with SCORE, a music composition class for high school students.
“We are deeply grateful to the County and the Board of Supervisors for this very generous and meaningful support,” said Ara Guzelimian, Artistic and Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival. “This marks an important milestone moment in the cultural life of Ventura County, recognizing and supporting the ever-growing range of vibrant arts activity in our communities.”
The Arts and Culture Investment Fund is Ventura County’s first dedicated arts and culture grant program, which as approved by the Board of Supervisors as part of the County’s 2023 Recovery Plan to support ongoing recovery from the pandemic. Funding supports both nonprofit arts and culture organizations and artists based in Ventura County. For more information and the Arts and Culture Investment Fund and a complete list of grant recipients, please visit www.ventura.org/arts.
About the Ojai Music Festival
The Ojai Music Festival represents an ideal of adventurous, open-minded, and openhearted programming in the most beautiful and welcoming of settings, with audiences and artists to match its aspirations. Entering its 79th year, the Festival remains a creative laboratory for thought-provoking musical experiences, bringing together innovative artists and curious audiences in an intimate, idyllic outdoor setting. Each Festival’s narrative is guided by a different Music Director, whose distinctive perspectives shape programming — ensuring energized festivals year after year.
Throughout each year, the Ojai Music Festival contributes to Southern California’s cultural landscape with in-person and online programming as well as robust educational offerings that serve thousands of public-school students and seniors. The organization’s apex is the world-renowned Festival, which takes place over four days in the breathtaking Ojai Valley in Ventura County. During the immersive experience, a mingling of the most curious take part in concerts, symposia, free community events, and social gatherings. The intimate Festival weekend, considered a highlight of the international music summer season, welcomes up to 5,000 patrons and reaches exponentially more audiences worldwide through streaming and broadcasts of concerts and discussions throughout the year.
Since its founding in 1947, the Ojai Music Festival has presented expansive programming in unusual ways with an eclectic mix of new and rarely performed music, as well as refreshing juxtapositions of musical styles. Through its signature structure of the Artistic Director appointing a different Music Director each year, Ojai has presented a “who’s who” of music including Mitsuko Uchida, Rhiannon Giddens, AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), Vijay Iyer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and Barbara Hannigan in recent years; throughout its history, featured artists have included Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, David Robertson, Eighth Blackbird, George Benjamin, Dawn Upshaw, Leif Ove Andsnes, Mark Morris, Jeremy Denk, Steven Schick, Matthias Pintscher, and Peter Sellars. The 79th Ojai Music Festival, June 5 to 8, 2025, will welcome flutist Claire Chase as Music Director.
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2024 Ojai Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace
Save the Date: Saturday & Sunday, November 16-17, 2024
Described as the best home tour in the region, guests visit four stunning homes during the 2024 Ojai Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace. The Home Tour showcases the beauty of the Ojai Valley with a unique approach to celebrating this festive season.
Celebrating over 25 years, the Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace, which takes place over a weekend in November, welcomes visitors from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties. In addition to touring four beautiful Ojai homes, visitors to Ojai during the event can browse the Marketplace, where dozens of vendors and artisans sell unique and handmade goods in Libbey Park.
The Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace is the Ojai Festival Women’s Committee’s largest fundraiser, with the proceeds benefiting the Ojai Music Festival and its BRAVO Education and Community Programs.
Tickets for the 2024 Ojai Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace go on sale September 30, 2024!
Become a Vendor for the 2024 Ojai Marketplace!
Your Favorite 2024 Festival Moments
Concert Photos
Photos by Timothy Teague
Audience & Staff Spotlight
Photos by Timothy Teague
Season 4 of OJAICAST: 2024 Festival Preview Podcast
SEASON 4
This season on OJAICAST, we have one very special episode where host Emily Praetorius gets to talk in-depth with Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian about what magic is in store for us at the 2024 Ojai Music Festival (June 6-9). From Mozart to Schoenberg and Haydn to Gubaidulina, we take a musical tour of the Festival programming with some extra insights into Music Director Mitsuko Uchida’s close connections with the fabulous roster of musicians joining her this year.
Episode 1
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K.453 – 3. Allegretto
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Tate
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat Major, K. 482 – I. Allegro
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Tate
Sophia Gubaidulina: Five Etudes for Harp, Double Bass and Percussion
Performed Christina Rozhkova, Alexander Suslin and Mark Pekarsky
Schoenberg: 6 Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19 – 6. Sehr langsam
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida
Sophia Gubaidulina: In Croce
Performed by Maria Kliegel and Elsbeth Moser
Helmut Lachenmann: Interieur
Performed by Sae Hashimoto
Kaija Saariaho: Lichtbogen
Performed by Avanti Chamber Orchestra
György Kurtág: Kafka Fragments – No. 19
Performed by Ah Young Hong and Patricia Kopatchinskaja
John Zorn: Road Runner
Performed by Frode Haltli
Haydn: Symphony No. 46 in B Major, Hob.I:46 – 4. Finale. Presto e scherzando
Performed by the English Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K.453 – 3. Allegretto
Performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Tate
Emily Praetorius, host and producer
Louis Ng, recording engineer
OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks
Also available on SPOTIFY and APPLE PODCASTS
OJAICast SEASON 3
OJAICast SEASON 2
OJAICast SEASON 1
ABOUT OUR OJAICAST HOST
Emily Praetorius, a former Ojai Music Festival Rothenberg Intern Fellow, is a composer from Ojai, CA. She recently received her DMA from Columbia University in 2023 where she studied composition with Georg Friedrich Haas and George Lewis. Her pieces have been performed by several New York City based ensembles such as Yarn/Wire, Mivos Quartet, TAK and Wet Ink Ensemble. Recent works include a solo viola work on violist Carrie Frey’s 2023 album Seagrass and a current collaboration with violin-viola duo andPlay. After 10 years of living in New York City where she studied, composed and co-owned Kuro Kirin Espresso & Coffee, she returned to her hometown of Ojai to live in the sunshine and go hiking every weekend.
OJAILIVE: 2024 Live Stream Replays
Since 2012, the Ojai Music Festival has expanded its global footprint building a worldwide audience and has deepened connections with patrons throughout the year with free Live Stream Broadcasts. The 78th Festival, June 6 to 9, continues this offering with acclaimed pianist Mitsuko Uchida as Music Director.
You can watch the free live streams of the Libbey Bowl concerts from the Festival’s home page which will begin Thu, June 6 at 8pm. The complete evening concerts will only be available at the time of the performance. UPDATE: Full morning concerts and highlights of the evening concerts are now available below and on our YouTube channel (7/1/24).
Stay updated on new Festival videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.
For more context on this year’s Festival, enjoy these links:
THU June 6, 2024
Selections from the 8:00PM OPENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Brentano String Quartet | Lucy Fitz Gibbon soprano
HAYDN String Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 (“Bird”)
SCHOENBERG Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19
SCHOENBERG String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 10
FRI June 7, 2024
10:00AM
Julie Smith Phillips harp | Jay Campbell cello | Sae Hashimoto percussion | Naomi Shaham double bass | Brentano String Quartet
KAIJA SAARIAHO Fall
HELMUT LACHENMANN Pression
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Five Etudes
BARTÓK String Quartet No. 5
Selections from the 8:00PM concert
José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
STRAVINSKY Fanfare for a New Theater
WEBERN Five Movements for Strings, Op. 5
SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
SAT June 8, 2024
10:00AM
Ljubinka Kulisic accordion | Rick Stotijn double bass | Musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra
JOHN ZORN Road Runner
MISSY MAZZOLI Dark with Excessive Bright
JOHN ADAMS Shaker Loops
Selections from the 8:00PM concert
José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader | Aliisa Neige Barrière conductor | Vicente Alberola clarinet
DEBUSSY (arr. Benno SACHS) Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
KAIJA SAARIAHO Lichtbogen
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN Elegy (from kínēma)
SUN June 9, 2024
10:00AM
Alexi Kenney violin | Sae Hashimoto percussion | Ljubinka Kulisic accordion | Brentano String Quartet
BIBER Passacaglia for solo violin
KAIJA SAARIAHO Six Japanese Gardens
HAYDN From The Seven Last Words of Christ
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA In Croce
Selections from the 5:30PM concert
José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader |
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
HAYDN Symphony No. 46 in B major, Hob. I:46
JÖRG WIDMANN Chorale Quartet (Choralquartett), version for chamber orchestra
2024 Press Coverage
Thank you for joining us at our 78th Festival, June 6-9, 2024. It was a glorious time to be in our communal festival experience, particularly in the company of our wondrous Music Director, Mitsuko Uchida. We were graced by her performances of extraordinary depth and insight along with the exhilaration of her partnership with the generous, brilliant musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the 2024 featured artists.
Take a look at excerpts from the press.
“…we’re talking about Ojai, where open-minded audiences take in music accompanied by nature and snack on freshly picked pixie tangerines. Uchida might have seemed like a headliner, but this festival is about sharing the wealth.”
New York Times
“What’s so extraordinary about the Ojai Music Festival, now in its 78th year? Many things, actually, including its brevity (this year running June 6 through 9); challenging and often sharply contrasting programming; and a rich concentration of talent…”
Wall Street Journal
“Uchida’s playing was so uncompromisingly ethereal that its purpose seemed meant to open the listener’s mind a crack.”
Los Angeles Times
“In programming cahoots with artistic director Ara Guzelimian, Uchida managed to tap many important and lesser-heard musical touchpoints over the weekend, including paying respects to Saariaho, who died just more than a year ago. Her Lichtbogen, conducted here by her daughter Aliisa Neige Barriere, has a shimmering, evanescent atmosphere, mixing acoustic and electronic elements with abiding sensitivity…”
SB Independent
“The Ojai moment came during the cadenza of the second movement, Larghetto, when the piano, in its highest register, evokes the entrancing power of Papageno’s magic bells. A silence descended over Libbey Bowl that was so complete that the only sounds were the piano, the croaking of frogs, the rustling of crickets, and the songs of night birds. It was as if Uchida’s playing had somehow entranced us all.”
San Francisco Classical Voice
“[Alexi] Kenney, 30, who has seemed on the verge of stardom for some time, certainly became one of the highlights of this festival (he made his Ojai debut in 2021). Along with Kafka Fragments, he gave a brilliant solo performance, with innocuous abstract projections by visual artist Xuan, of another hour-long work called Shifting Ground, consisting of 11 pieces by various composers, also at the Ojai Valley School.
Classical Voice North America
Fuel Your Musical Adventure
Celebrating Our Story
For the first time in our history, we’ve launched a comprehensive campaign to ensure that the Ojai experience you love can be sustained for future generations of musicians and audiences. The Festival is largely dependent on contributed income, which makes up 75% of our annual budget.
With this campaign, we are looking to ensure the flourishing of this musical treasure for the future by commissioning new work, originating important artistic initiatives that have an impact beyond the Festival, as well as expanding our music education programs for students from pre-kindergarten to college.
Look at what we have already accomplished with the campaign:
- Re-imagined staging of Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera presented at the 2023 Ojai Festival. It was then produced at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in New York in the fall of 2023.
- Commissioned Dylan Mattingly’s Sunt Lacrimae Rerum for the 2021 Festival. It was recently performed at the LA Phil’s Green Umbrella as part of the California Festival.
- Created a new BRAVO composition program called SCORE for Ojai public high school students.
Our generous Board of Directors has taken up the challenge with 100% participation by way of additional campaign gifts and planned giving. We invite each of you to take part in this next chapter of our story. Join us by renewing your annual donation, and consider making a special campaign donation. Every gift counts towards the goals of this Future Forward campaign.
This is a moment to celebrate our shared story, your vital part in our legacy, and most importantly, the vibrant future to come. Join us in our next chapter and help bring our Future Forward.
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 Festival’s 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.
OJAILIVE: 2024 Live Stream Schedule & Replays
Since 2012, the Ojai Music Festival has expanded its global footprint building a worldwide audience and has deepened connections with patrons throughout the year with free Live Stream Broadcasts. The 78th Festival, June 6 to 9, continues this offering with acclaimed pianist Mitsuko Uchida as Music Director.
You can watch the free live streams of the Libbey Bowl concerts from the Festival’s home page which will begin Thu, June 6 at 8pm. The complete evening concerts will only be available at the time of the performance. Full morning concerts and highlights of the evening concerts will be available on our website and on our YouTube channel following the Festival. Below is the schedule of concerts to be live streamed.
For more context on this year’s Festival, enjoy these links:
THU June 6, 2024
8:00PM OPENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Brentano String Quartet | Mitsuko Uchida piano | Lucy Fitz Gibbon soprano
HAYDN String Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 (“Bird”)
SCHOENBERG Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19
MOZART Fantasy in D minor, K. 397
SCHOENBERG String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 10
FRI June 7, 2024
10:00AM
Julie Smith Phillips harp | Jay Campbell cello | Sae Hashimoto percussion | Naomi Shaham double bass | Brentano String Quartet
KAIJA SAARIAHO Fall
HELMUT LACHENMANN Pression
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Five Etudes
BARTÓK String Quartet No. 5
8:00PM
Mitsuko Uchida piano and director
José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
STRAVINSKY Fanfare for a New Theater
WEBERN Five Movements for Strings, Op. 5
SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
MOZART Piano Concerto in E flat, K. 482
SAT June 8, 2024
10:00AM
Ljubinka Kulisic accordion | Rick Stotijn double bass | Musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra
JOHN ZORN Road Runner
MISSY MAZZOLI Dark with Excessive Bright
JOHN ADAMS Shaker Loops
8:00PM
This concert will be shown in it’s entirety only the evening it will be performed.
Mitsuko Uchida piano and director | José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader | Aliisa Neige Barrière conductor | Vicente Alberola clarinet
DEBUSSY (arr. Benno SACHS) Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
KAIJA SAARIAHO Lichtbogen
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN Elegy (from kínēma)
MOZART Piano Concerto in B flat, K. 595
SUN June 9, 2024
10:00AM
Alexi Kenney violin | Sae Hashimoto percussion | Ljubinka Kulisic accordion | Brentano String Quartet
BIBER Passacaglia for solo violin
KAIJA SAARIAHO Six Japanese Gardens
HAYDN From The Seven Last Words of Christ
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA In Croce
5:30PM
Mitsuko Uchida piano and director | José Maria Blumenschein concertmaster and leader |
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
HAYDN Symphony No. 46 in B major, Hob. I:46
JÖRG WIDMANN Chorale Quartet (Choralquartett), version for chamber orchestra
MOZART Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453
Live Stream FAQ
Where do I find the Live Stream?
At concert time, the Live Stream will be available at the top of our Homepage.
It’s concert time and I still don’t see the Live Stream on the Homepage.
Sometimes your browser stores an old version of the webpage. To refresh the page, click the “
” button in your browser.
I see the Live Stream. How do I watch full screen?
To watch full screen on the Homepage, click the “
“ button in the bottom right of the player.
Where can I watch the Live Stream concert after it ends?
Live Stream videos will be available the following day on the 2024 Live Stream Schedule. Following the Festival, they will remain on our website and our Festival YouTube Channel. However, the evening concerts will only be shown the night of the performance.
Volunteers: Heart and Soul of the Festival
Since the Ojai Music Festival’s founding in 1947, volunteers have ensured the enduring success of the organization, from our renowned four-day Festival and our acclaimed BRAVO music education program.
Volunteer opportunities range from ushering, administrative office work, concessions to housing Festival artists and production team. The Festival is fortunate to have a large community of volunteers.
Besides receiving benefits to volunteer that include lawn tickets, a festival commemorative t-shirt and invitations to events, volunteers get to enjoy the camaraderie of working together and meeting interesting music enthusiasts like Jodine Hammerand!
JODINE HAMMERAND: A Return to Ojai and the Music Festival!
What brought you to Ojai?
My family was living in Los Angeles when my parents took my siblings and I to Ojai for the week of Spring Break. We all fell in love with Ojai and our family moved here in 1972.
When did you start your involvement in the Music Festival?
I started at Nordhoff High School as a freshman. It was probably my junior year when I started volunteering for the Ojai Music Festival as an usher. I will never forget watching a run-through with the LA Philharmonic that was being conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas!
When did you make your way back to Ojai?
After retiring from Alaska Airlines, I ultimately chose to move back to Ojai right at the height of the pandemic. I was interested in volunteering again and finally was able to usher for the 2022 Ojai Music Festival, then again in 2023. It felt like a happy reunion!
What is a recent fond memory of the Festival?
I am a lover of all music genres, especially the Blues. I really enjoyed Rhiannon Giddens being the music director in 2023 with her banjo playing. She also introduced the pipa and the kora, two great instruments rooted deep in history. ‘The roots of the present are deep in the past’ my high school history teacher used to always say! I attended the performance of Ghost Opera and enjoyed listening to the pipa with all the instruments. I ushered at the performance of Omar’s Journey and heard the kora played by Seckou Keita. I arrived before the concert as ushers do to prepare the Libbey Bowl. I was walking down the center aisle of seats when I saw Seckou practicing on stage. When he was finished, he looked my way, and I gave him a thumbs up indicating how beautiful he played. He smiled his big smile and that made me very happy, and I will never forget it.
I look forward to volunteering for the Ojai Music Festival. It is a joy every year, no matter the style of music. In addition, I enjoy every year when the staff and volunteers gather together before the Festival, to listen to Ara Guzelimian with his knowledge of the musicians. He is an asset as artistic and executive director.
A European Grand Tour, Resources References
Many thanks to all who attended the Virtual Ojai Talks on the music of Gubaidulina, Lachenmann, and Saariaho led by Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Here is the featured music and the resources that were discussed that we’d love to share with all! These are all readily accessible YouTube links.
Gubaidulina Interview
Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2
Clip from Helmut Lachenman: My Way documentary
Interview with Helmut Lachenman
Lachenmann: Mouvement
Trailer for Echoes of the Universe: The Music of Kaija Saariaho documentary
Saariaho: Terrestre
Advertising
Advertising Opportunities with the Ojai Music Festival
“…a musical utopia where open-minded audiences welcome adventurous works presented against a backdrop of green hills, bird song, and Pixie tangerines.” (New York Times)
The Ojai Music Festival audience members and donors are highly educated, affluent and influential. An effective way to reach this desirable group is through advertising in the Festival’s program book.
The Program Book
Call us old fashion but our complimentary printed Festival program book has always had the unique quality of being used repeatedly by patrons throughout the four-day immersive experience. Advertising with us is an unbeatable opportunity to reach this loyal core of the music-loving and art-going community and leave a memorable impression. Our program books are also a wonderful keepsake — our patrons refer to it throughout the year!
This perfect-bound collector’s item includes program notes by Thomas May on all Libbey Bowl concerts, free concerts and events, artist and composer bios, in-depth Festival features on the Festival, donor listings, staff and volunteer rosters, maps, FAQ, and much more.
By supporting the Ojai Music Festival as an advertiser, you support Ojai’s signature music event and music education in our Ojai Valley schools.
PLUS — Advertisers are included in the free OMF Mobile App used by patrons throughout the weekend.
Advertising in the 2024 Program Book
Download Order Form | Download Rates & Specs
Deadlines and Submission of Artwork
Space deadline: April 15, 2024
Artwork due: April 21, 2024
Demographics
Attendance
Attendance at the Festival is up to 5000 patrons and community members. Many reference their program books multiple times during the four-day Festival. Ojai Music Festival patrons save and share their books for years as treasured mementos. It is also distributed at key Ojai Valley businesses before the Festival.
Snapshot of Festival Patrons
- Upwardly mobile consumers with important purchasing power
- Established patrons who support music and arts programs
- Dual income families of $250,000 and above
- Visits Ojai during the year outside of the Festival weekend
- Travel more than three times a year
- Highly-educated executives and professionals
Further Inquiries:
Contact Gina Gutierrez at [email protected] or 805 646 2181.
Learning to Love Schoenberg
Many thanks to all who attended the Virtual Ojai Talks on the music of Schoenberg led by Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian. Here is the featured music and the resources that were discussed that we’d love to share with all!
The Music We Heard:
These are all readily accessible YouTube links. A companion playlist in either Apple Music or Spotify appears at the bottom, for those who prefer those sources for streaming. One note – the very beautiful Matthias Pintscher/Karajan Academy live performance of the Schoenberg Chamber Symphony No. 1 is only available on YouTube, so the streaming playlists include a different but also compelling performance led by Simon Rattle.
Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
Matthias Pintscher conductor with the ensemble of the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic
Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2
Barbara Hannigan and the Emerson String Quartet
Text to Litanei (third movement)
Text to Entrückung (fourth movement)
Brahms: Piano Pieces, Opus 119
Rudolf Serkin, piano
Schoenberg: Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19
Mitsuko Uchida, piano
Other Media Referenced:
Schoenberg: Mahler’s Funeral
Painting, musically represented in the Op. 19, No. 6 movement above
Salka Viertel: The Kindness of Strangers
A rich remembrance of the emigré community of artists in Los Angeles of the 1930s and 1940s
Allen Shawn: Arnold Schoenberg’s Journey
A complex but rewarding portrait of the composer and his work, if you are not daunted by extensive musical analysis
Here is the playlist:
Enjoy!
From Ojai with Love: A Musical Valentine
In celebration of the day, we take a journey in the company of Mitsuko Uchida. This is sampling of recordings from throughout her career, exploring her wide ranging interests from Mozart to Schoenberg – these are all recordings I love and would be so happy to have along with me on a desert island.
We begin with the most celebrated (and romantic!) of Mozart piano concerto slow movements and proceed on to some lesser-known Schubert miniatures, no less exquisite for their brevity. Schumann comes next in two celebrated movements, followed by a surprisingly apt tiny piece by Schoenberg as a prelude to visionary Debussy in a now-legendary recording of his Etudes. We then turn to perhaps the quirkiest of all Mozart miniatures, then conclude with the joyous but rarely played Concert Rondo in D, a fittingly spirited finale to this brief sampler. And all of it in eager anticipation of musical joys to come in Ojai this June!
Ara Guzelimian
Artistic and Executive Director
SCORE Composition Program Launches at Nordhoff High School
(January 16, 2024 – OJAI CA) — The Ojai Music Festival launches SCORE, a new initiative of the Festival’s BRAVO music education program that will provide the tools and guidance necessary for Nordhoff High School (NHS) music students to compose their own musical works. The 17-week course, which will be free to the students, will be led by NHS music teacher Bill Wagner and SCORE coordinator Emily Praetorius.
To participate in the enrichment class, NHS students will have previous course study through the NHS music department, along with a demonstrated interest in learning music composition. Registration for SCORE began in December, 2023.
“The Festival, through its BRAVO music education program, has been providing free school workshops, artist residencies, Music Van, and free Imagine concerts to elementary-age students for nearly 40 years in the Ojai Valley. By expanding with SCORE to the upper grades, we will be able to help high school students tap into their own musical creativity across genres with the expert guidance of the school’s own Bill Wagner and Ojai-based composer Emily Praetorius. I am so glad that we can continue to deepen our connection in our Ojai community on a year-round basis,” said Festival Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian.
In the class, students will learn to find their own compositional voices and processes by composing for themselves and their fellow classmates in a series of cumulative projects. Through each project, students will learn a new tool of the compositional process, from music notation and idea generation to notation software and audio recording. Listening sessions, composition lessons, and guest speakers will enhance the class’s exploration of musical composition and contemporary music in general. The course will culminate with a performance of the students’ works performed by NHS music students.
“We are very excited to be collaborating with the Ojai Music Festival to offer SCORE for Nordhoff students to begin to explore music from a composer’s viewpoint. The perspective they will gain through the process will be invaluable to their development as musicians. I’m looking forward to hearing their creative works take shape,” shares Wagner.
EMILY PRAETORIUS, SCORE COORDINATOR
Emily Praetorius, a former Ojai Music Festival Rothenberg Intern Fellow, is a composer from Ojai, CA. She recently received her DMA from Columbia University in 2023 where she studied composition with Georg Friedrich Haas and George Lewis. Her pieces have been performed by several New York City based ensembles such as Yarn/Wire, Mivos Quartet, TAK and Wet Ink Ensemble. Recent works include a solo viola work on violist Carrie Frey’s 2023 album Seagrass and a current collaboration with violin-viola duo andPlay. After 10 years of living in New York City where she studied, composed and co-owned Kuro Kirin Espresso & Coffee, she returned to her hometown of Ojai to live in the sunshine and go hiking every weekend.
BRAVO MUSIC EDUCATION PROGRAM IN THE SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY
The Ojai Music Festival’s BRAVO program has been serving the Ojai Valley community for close to four decades. Over each year, BRAVO serves nearly 3,000 public school children with free music workshops, artist residencies, Music Van, and concerts. BRAVO also offers free workshops at local senior centers and includes talks and free community events during the Ojai Music Festival in June.
OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL
Since 1947, the Festival has remained a creative laboratory for thought-provoking musical experiences, bringing together innovative artists and curious audiences in an intimate, idyllic outdoor setting. Each Festival’s narrative is guided by a different Music Director, whose distinctive perspectives shape programming — ensuring energized festivals year after year.
Throughout each year, the Ojai Music Festival contributes to Southern California’s cultural landscape with in-person and online Festival-related programming as well as robust educational offerings that serve thousands of public-school students and seniors. The organization’s apex is the world-renowned four-day Festival, which takes place in Ojai, a breathtaking valley 75 miles from Los Angeles, which is a perennial platform for the fresh and unexpected. During the immersive experience, a mingling of the most curious take part in concerts, symposia, free community events, and social gatherings. During the intimate Festival weekend, considered a highlight of the international music summer season, Ojai welcomes up to 5,000 patrons and reaches 35 times more audiences worldwide through live and on-demand streaming of concerts and discussions throughout the year.
The 2024 Ojai Music Festival is slated for June 6 to 9 with acclaimed pianist Mitsuko Uchida as Music Director, featuring the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, violinist Alexi Kenny, cellist Jay Campbell, and the Brentano String Quartet. For information on BRAVO and the 2024 Festival, visit OjaiFestival.org.
Get to Know the 2024 Festival Artists
The 2024 Festival welcomes Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Brentano String Quartet, violinist Alexi Kenney, cellist Jay Campbell, harpist Julie Smith Phillips, and introduces soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, percussionist Sae Hashimoto, accordionist Ljubinka Kulisic, and bassist Rick Stotijn to Ojai audiences.
2024 Festival Schedule Highlights
- Mitsuko Uchida performs each Festival evening in works by Schoenberg and Mozart
- Works by Kaija Saariaho are woven throughout the Festival, including Dreaming Chaconne, Fall, Six Japanese Gardens, and Lichtbogen, conducted by Saariaho’s daughter, Aliisa Neige Barrière
- Concert programs include the music of John Adams, Bartók, Biber, Cage, Debussy, Sofia Gubaidulina, Kurtág, Helmut Lachenmann, Missy Mazzoli, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Stravinsky, Jörg Widmann, and John Zorn
- In collaboration with Baryshnikov Arts, Shifting Ground features violinist Alexi Kenney and video projections by Xuan, juxtaposing Baroque works by Bach and Matteis, with recent music by Kaija Saariaho, Angélica Negrón, Paul Wiancko, and Salina Fisher
- The Festival features music from both the First and Second Viennese Schools, from Haydn and Mozart to Berg, Webern, and multiple works by Arnold Schoenberg in honor of the 150th Anniversary of his birth
From Ara: A Year Filled with Memories
Dear Ojai Festival friends,
As the New Year approaches, it is only fitting to take a moment to reflect on the year that was at the Ojai Music Festival. Rhiannon Giddens was at the exhilarating center of this year’s Festival, illuminating everything she does with passion, formidable commitment, and heart. She is one of those artists who uses her gifts to make our understanding of the world broader and more whole.
And what a Festival it was, with discovery, adventure, and delight around every corner, from new music to old and everything in between, from Senegal to North Carolina, from Mexico to Iran, from Haydn to Squarepusher . . .
Tan Dun’s pioneering Ghost Opera brought together the remarkable Wu Man, who was in on its creation, with a new generation of collaborators in the Attacca Quartet and dancer/choreographer PeiJu Chien Pott in a completely fresh re-thinking of the work. In late September, the production traveled East for performances at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in New York, another in a long tradition of Ojai-originated projects having creative ripple effects across the performing arts world.
Back home in Ojai, we celebrated the first-ever statewide California Festival of new music with a November concert – an engrossing and hugely inventive program of music by Reena Esmail, Dylan Mattingly, M.A. Tiesenga, and Samuel Adams, showcasing the creativity of a new generation of California composers. We were mesmerized by the Hindustani vocals of Saili Oak and encountered the electronic hurdy-gurdy!
Looking back on the year, I am filled with gratitude on every level at the company we keep – the artists, the staff, the many volunteers, the endlessly open and curious audiences, our gracious and generous donors. Thank you for being part of this boundless musical adventure!
And there is much more to come around the corner. We can happily anticipate the 2024 Festival with the profound artistry of Mitsuko Uchida, joined by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and a host of gifted young artists in a characteristically wide-ranging program from Mozart to Kaija Saariaho.
More details about the Festival to come in January. See you in 2024!
In the meantime, all the warmest good wishes for a healthy, happy, and most of all, peaceful New Year,
Ara Guzelimian
Artistic and Executive Director
The artwork, FESTIVAL, created by Christopher Noxon.
Christopher Noxon paints and writes in Ojai, California. Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara featured his work in the 2023 exhibit “Betty Lane & Christopher Noxon: From One Generation to the Next.” His work is in the permanent collection of the Ojai Valley Museum and he’s shown at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles, the Santa Paula Art Museum and the Beatrice Woods Center for the Arts. His writing and illustrations have appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic and New York Times Magazine. ChristopherNoxonArt.com
OJAINEXT: the next generation of audiences
Whether you’re a young professional, an artist/musician on a budget, an Ojai local moving back home, someone raising a music-appreciating family, or a student* trying to save for textbooks, we want to ensure you can get your fill of music adventure!
OJAINEXT is a community for the next generation of Festival audiences. Just fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Membership is completely free, all you have to do is sign up!
(jump to signup form, keep scrolling to learn more)
*Click here to learn more about student and family discounts
What perks will you get as an OJAINEXT Member?
Whether you’re a long-time classical music lover or simply curious about this yearly Ojai staple, look at our various perks to help welcome you to the Ojai Festival community.
- Invitations to special events throughout the year
- Discounts on select Festival concerts
- Drink voucher for the Green Room in the Park
- An invitation to the OJAINEXT member event during the Festival
- Other additional and unexpected deals, invitations, and opportunities (per the schedule and programming of the Festival)
OJAINEXT Ambassador Program
Are you open to musical discovery and adventure? Have an insatiable curiosity about music that pushes boundaries? You’re not alone! The Ojai Music Festival has been the place for other music enthusiasts who enjoy having an immersive music experience, especially in the beautiful setting of Ojai, California.
This Ambassador program is a chance for fans to share their excitement and enthusiasm for the Ojai Music Festival with friends and community in person, on social media, or through other personal outreach. An OJAINEXT Ambassador promotes the Festival positively. They support our artistic values and mission and are also passionate about ensuring the future of classical, contemporary music.
What do Ambassadors do?
- Share Friend-to-Friend discounts with your network
- Create at least original posts or stories on your social media before the Festival
- Repost or share OMF posts on your stories
- Create posts daily about your experiences during the Festival
- Create at least one original Festival recap post highlighting your favorite parts of the Festival during June 6-9, tagging @ojaifestivals in both the caption and the photo
Benefits of becoming an Ambassador
- Get updates before the general public so you can help share news about the Festival
- Access to special OJAINEXT events/parties during the year and the Festival
- Invitation to an exclusive OjaiNEXT niche experience during the Festival
- Deep discounts on tickets and at retail to use for themselves
- Drink coupon at the Green Room in the Park on Saturday night, in addition to coupons that can be shared with friends
Interested? Please reach out to us at 805 646 2094 or email [email protected].
Camping in Ojai
Ojai has incredible hiking and camping opportunities. The town is surrounded by mountains and is neighbored by Los Padres National Forest.
We suggest checking out Camp Comfort, Lake Casitas Recreation Area, Dennison Park, Rose Valley Camp Ground, and Wheeler Gorge
These campsites range from $20-76 a night with vehicle fees ranging from $2-20 a vehicle.
Things to do in Ojai
Whether you’re attending one concert or every concert, there is plenty to do in Ojai before and after a performance. Here are our top picks for the OJAINEXT segment of our audience!
Food and Drink: Topa Topa Brewing Company | Sanders & Sons Gelato | Ojai Pizza Company | Sakura Ojai | Papa Lennons | Ojai Beverage Company | Farmer and the Cook | Yume Japanese Burger | Tortilla House
Shopping: Bart’s Books | 2nd Helpings Thrift Store | Fig Curated Living | RAINS | Nutmeg’s Ojai House | Sespe Creek Collective | Noted | Serendipity Toys
Hikes: Ventura River Preserve | Ojai Meadows Preserve | Shelf Road | Rose Valley Falls | Cozy Dell Trail
Check out our Explore Ojai page for even more recommendations.
Sign up now!
If you are new to the Ojai Music Festival or new to classical music in general check out our First Timers page and our FAQ.
Feel free to call our box office at 805 646 2053 for more information on deals and discounts. You can also DM us on our Facebook and Instagram!
From Ara: Music Now and What’s Ahead
I am writing this in the blissful quiet following Thanksgiving, a pause from the usually hectic days and a chance to reflect with gratitude. We are in a particularly troubled moment across the world, with much sorrow, animosity, and division seemingly everywhere. And yet, the enduring pleasures of life also assert themselves – the company of loved ones, a walk in the brisk autumn air, the smile of a child playing, and always, the boundless rewards of music.
I have been heartened by multiple musical joys these past few weeks. We’ve had the pleasure of presenting a California Festival concert at the Ojai Valley School’s Greenberg Center, our first “off-season” concert of new music in Ojai, one received with great enthusiasm and cheer. We delighted in the company of four exuberant and always inventive younger composers – Reena Esmail, M.A. Tiesenga, Dylan Mattingly, and Samuel Adams.
I then flew almost immediately to London, to spend a few days in the company of Mitsuko Uchida, our 2024 Festival Music Director. We had several rewarding visits together, putting the finishing touches together for next year. Mitsuko first came to Ojai as a guest artist at the 50th anniversary Festival in 1996. Those of us with long Festival memories will recall that as one of the hottest (literally!) festivals ever, with Mitsuko playing a hypnotically beautiful Schubert B-Flat Sonata and then capping the week with the Ravel Piano Concerto in G, with Pierre Boulez and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mitsuko’s response to the overwhelming heat was to play the Schubert with even more beauty and greater concentration, creating an intense quiet of listening that defied the weather. It was one of those unforgettable experiences, where one sensed a collective joining together of audience and artist, living fully in every moment of the piece, where nothing else mattered.
Mitsuko has always retained a special fondness for Ojai, and we are so fortunate to have her back. She is one of the most remarkable musicians of our time, someone who is constantly exploring and finding ever-deeper insights into everything she plays. Her lifelong passion for the Mozart piano concertos will be at the center of this year’s Festival, music that is constantly revealing new dimensions and humanity in her hands. She is joined by the musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, her closest collaborators in recent years – a well-honed partnership of exuberance and discovery that continues to grow.
Although Mitsuko is perhaps best known for her championing of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, she has had a close association with a number of today’s most vibrant composers in her role as an Artistic Director of the Marlboro Festival in Vermont. Each summer, she has personally invited a great musical thinker to be in residence at the celebrated chamber music festival, creating a fascinating intersection between tradition and innovation. We will happily benefit from these associations at Ojai next year with music by a number of these composers – Sofia Gubaidulina, Kaija Saariaho, Jörg Widmann, György Kurtág, and Helmut Lachenmann among them.
The programming that is emerging from our conversations is completely true to Mitsuko Uchida – the eternal freshness of the Mozart piano concertos, new and recent music by the composers she values most, and a focus on the composers of the Second Viennese School. Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Arnold Schoenberg, a composer who is perpetually misunderstood. We will take a fresh listen to some of his most beautiful (yes, I did say beautiful!) works in the hands of musicians who believe deeply in the expressive power of this music.
As we make the first preliminary announcement of the 2024 Festival, I hope you will take pleasure in the characteristic Ojai mix of the expected and unexpected, the new and the old, and always, the sense of discovery. In the coming months, we will have a chance to meet the artists, beginning with Mitsuko Uchida herself and do a deeper exploration of the music to be programmed.
In closing, I want to linger again briefly in the spirit of the Thanksgiving just past by expressing my personal gratitude to each of you for your continued support of the Ojai Festival. We are fortunate to be in this music adventure together with you.
Ara Guzelimian
Artistic and Executive Director
2024 Festival Schedule
Join us for a curated journey, where music is the adventure, with the characteristic Ojai mix of new and old, familiar and unfamiliar, in the company of remarkable artists who bring vitality, freshness, and a sense of discovery to all that they do. Scroll down to view the 2024 Schedule.
This symbol indicates that this is a Beyond the Bowl event, not located at Libbey Bowl. Due to the intimate setting of these events, they are not automatically included in Libbey Bowl Passes and require the purchase of an additional ticket.
THU 06|06
3:00PM OJAI TALKS
Ojai Presbyterian Church
Two-part session with Music Director Mitsuko Uchida and featured artists, hosted by Ara Guzelimian and John Schaefer of WQXR New Sounds.
Automatically included in 4-Day Libbey Bowl Passes.
6:30PM MUSICAL POP-UP
Libbey Park Gazebo
To start the Festival evening, enjoy a performance by harpist Julie Smith Phillips.
8:00PM OPENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Brentano String Quartet | Mitsuko Uchida, piano | Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano
HAYDN String Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3 (“Bird”)
SCHOENBERG Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19
MOZART Fantasy in D minor, K. 397
SCHOENBERG String Quartet No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 10
This will be a live stream broadcast available on the evening of the performance on our website.
FRI 06|07
8:00AM OJAI DAWNS
Zalk Theater, Besant Hill School
Jay Campbell, cello | Sae Hashimoto, percussion | Ljubinka Kulisic, accordion
GIUSEPPE COLOMBI Ciaccona
KAIJA SAARIAHO Dreaming Chaconne
HELMUT LACHENMANN Interieur I
HELMUT LACHENMANN Toccatina
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA In Croce
10:00AM MORNING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Julie Smith Phillips, harp | Jay Campbell, cello | Sae Hashimoto, percussion | Naomi Shaham, double bass | Brentano String Quartet
KAIJA SAARIAHO Fall
HELMUT LACHENMANN Pression
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Five Etudes
BARTÓK String Quartet No. 5
This will be a live stream broadcast available on our website.
11:30AM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Jay Campbell with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
3:30PM SHIFTING GROUND
Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
Alexi Kenney, violin
Xuan, visual artist
A unique program for solo violin and video projections juxtaposing Baroque works by Bach and Matteis with recent music by Kaija Saariaho, Angélica Negrón, Paul Wiancko, and Salina Fisher. Produced in collaboration with the Baryshnikov Arts, New York.
6:00PM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Alexi Kenney and Xuan with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
8:00PM EVENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Mitsuko Uchida, piano and director
José Maria Blumenschein, concertmaster and leader
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
STRAVINSKY Fanfare for a New Theater
WEBERN Five Movements for Strings, Op. 5
SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
MOZART Piano Concerto in E flat, K. 482
This will be a live stream broadcast available on the evening of the performance on our website.
SAT 06|08
8:00AM MORNING MEDITATION
Chaparral Auditorium, 414 E Ojai Ave
Jay Campbell, cello
Catherine Lamb The Additive Arrow for cello and live electronics
10:00AM MORNING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Ljubinka Kulisic, accordion | Rick Stotijn, double bass | Musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra
JOHN ZORN Road Runner
MISSY MAZZOLI Dark with Excessive Bright
JOHN ADAMS Shaker Loops
This will be a live stream broadcast available on our website.
11:30AM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Rick Stotjin with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
3:30PM SHIFTING GROUND
(repeat performance)
Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
Alexi Kenney, violin
Xuan, visual artist
A unique program for solo violin and video projections juxtaposing Baroque works by Bach and Matteis with recent music by Kaija Saariaho, Angélica Negrón, Paul Wiancko and Salina Fisher. Produced in collaboration with the Baryshnikov Arts, New York.
6:00PM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Aliisa Neige Barrière with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
8:00PM EVENING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Mitsuko Uchida, piano and director | José Maria Blumenschein, concertmaster and leader | Aliisa Neige Barrière, conductor | Vicente Alberola, clarinet
DEBUSSY (arr. Benno SACHS) Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
KAIJA SAARIAHO Lichtbogen
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN Elegy (from kínēma)
MOZART Piano Concerto in B flat, K. 595
This will be a live stream broadcast available on the evening of the performance on our website.
SUN 06|09
8:00AM MORNING MEDITATION
Chaparral Auditorium, 414 E Ojai Ave
Ljubinka Kulisic, accordion
Music of John Cage
10:00AM MORNING CONCERT
Libbey Bowl
Alexi Kenney, violin | Sae Hashimoto, percussion | Ljubinka Kulisic, accordion | Brentano String Quartet
BIBER Passacaglia for solo violin
KAIJA SAARIAHO Six Japanese Gardens
HAYDN From The Seven Last Words of Christ
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA In Croce
This will be a live stream broadcast available on our website.
11:30AM OJAI CHATS
Libbey Park Gazebo
Ljubinka Kulisic and Sae Hashimoto with host John Schaefer of WNYC/New Sounds
2:30PM KAFKA FRAGMENTS
Greenberg Activity Center
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano| Alexi Kenney, violin
KURTÁG Kafka Fragments
Kurtág’s eloquent setting of fragments from Kafka’s diaries weaves together singer and violinist into a deeply personal dialogue, a reflection on life’s joys, trials and the “dances of time.”
4:00PM COMMUNITY & FAMILY EVENT
Libbey Park Gazebo
First, enjoy the Instrument Petting Zoo hosted by the Ojai Music Festival’s BRAVO education program at 3pm, then join us for a free concert featuring members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra!
5:30PM FINALE
Libbey Bowl
Mitsuko Uchida, piano and director | José Maria Blumenschein, concertmaster and leader |
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
HAYDN Symphony No. 46 in B major
JÖRG WIDMANN Chorale Quartet
MOZART Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453
This will be a live stream broadcast available on the evening of the performance on our website.
Programs and artists are subject to change.
What the Festival Means to Me
The Ojai Music Festival is long known for being a place for experimentation, exploration, and interaction. We are in awe of our patrons, returning and new, who share the experience with the artists and community, and equally important, their feedback and insights every year. We thank you for making the time to share your personal “What the Festival Means to You.”
It means the joy of discovery and communication through music. It means openness to experience, willingness to engage deeply with something and give it a chance to touch your soul and change you forever…
This is a world-class musical event in a small-town atmosphere, which is a unique and delightful pairing.
The experience of live music in an outdoor setting that is more intimate than a concert hall.
“An inspirational weekend with incredible performers, devoted audience, and unpredictable concerts. We always find something weird and something wonderful throughout the events.”
Do you have questions? We’ve got answers!
Creative Lab concert launches during the California Festival
The Ojai Music Festival was delighted to participate in the California Festival, a statewide initiative organized by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony. This showcase of 100-plus California organizations, which runs from November 3 to 19, closely aligned with the Ojai Festival mission and history in celebrating new and adventurous music.
Our performance was a “maiden voyage” of presenting a non-summer concert on November 11 at the Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. With a supportive and enthusiastic audience, the program presented smaller-scale recent works by Samuel Carl Adams, Reena Esmail, Dylan Mattingly, and M.A. Tiesenga, performed by pianist Conor Hanick, clarinetist Sérgio Coelho, vibraphone player Sidney Hopson, violinist Gallia Kastner, vocalist Saili Oak, multi-instrumentalist M.A. Tiesenga, and Zelter String Quartet. These same forward-looking composers were then featured at the Green Umbrella concert, at the Walt Disney Hall, on November 14.
Take a look at some of our favorite moments from our Creative Lab concert on November 11 in Ojai. Special thanks to the Ojai Valley School.
photos by © Timothy Teague
LA Phil’s Green Umbrella: Chaparral and Interstates
photos by © Nick Rutter
