2015 Festival Schedule
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10
Ojai Talks | 7:30 PM
Libbey Bowl
Part I: Working with Pierre Boulez, with Thomas W. Morris
Part II: Boulez in Ojai, with Ralph Grierson and William Kraft
Part III: Boulez and Beyond the Score®, with Frank Gehry
Ara Guzelimian, Ojai Talks director
Concert | 9:00 PM
Libbey Bowl
ICE
red fish blue fish
Mellissa Hughes, soprano
Josephine Chan, piano
Anna Bowen, actress
Charlotte Cannon, Margaret Cook, Colin Creveling, Derek Herman, Joseph Galizia, Nyle Kenning, actors
Steven Schick, conductor
Beyond the Score ® A Pierre Dream: A Portrait of Pierre Boulez
WEST COAST PREMIERE
A phantasmagorical acoustic and theatrical journey through a lifetime of Pierre Boulez’s musical adventures, innovations, and discoveries. Performed within an extraordinary set designed by Frank Gehry, this multimedia event will mix live performance with archival footage and new interviews with Boulez.
Talk Back | 10:30 PM
Libbey Bowl
Q&A Beyond the Score ® Creative Director Gerard McBurney and Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris
$90 reserved section | $40 general seating
View an excerpt from the Chicago premiere of A Pierre Dream >>
Read more on Boulez At 90 and view our Boulez In Ojai timeline >>
Beyond the Score ® is produced by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
THURSDAY, JUNE 11
11:00am – 1:30pm
Ojai Valley Community Church (907 El Centro St)
Part I: The World of Percussion, with Steven Schick
Part II: Composition and Performance as Theater, with John Luther Adams and Roland Auzet
Ara Guzelimian, Ojai Talks director
3:30- 4:45pm
Libbey Park
Steven Schick, director
ICE
red fish blue fish
CalArts ensemble
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS: Sila: The Breath of the World (West Coast Premiere)
Ojai reimagines the concert experience with Sila: The Breath of the World by Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams, who continues his ongoing exploration of sound in an outdoor environment. Inspired by the Inuit concept of the spirit that animates the world, Sila places 80 musicians throughout Libbey Park while listeners are welcome to roam, creating an absorbing and mystical experience.
FREE
Watch John Luther Adams discuss Sila >>
Sila is commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Washington Performing Arts, Ojai Music Festival, Cal Performances, and La Jolla Symphony and Chorus.
Part I: 6:00-7:00pm | Part II: 8:00-10:00pm
Libbey Bowl
Part I: Bartók Boulez I
ICE
Steven Schick, conductor
Calder Quartet
PIERRE BOULEZ: Dérive I
BÉLA BARTÓK: String Quartet No. 1
BÉLA BARTÓK: String Quartet No. 2
In this first of four concerts pairing two twentieth-century giants Bartók stakes his claim to the string quartet while Boulez derives a new work from the essence of another.
Part II:
ICE
red fish blue fish
Claire Chase, flute
Gloria Cheng and Vicki Ray, pianos
Mellissa Hughes, soprano
Steven Schick, conductor
EDGARD VARÈSE: Intégrales
EDGARD VARÈSE: Ionisation
EDGARD VARÈSE: Density 21.5
EDGARD VARÈSE: Déserts (with tape)
CARLOS CHAVEZ: Toccata for Percussion
ALBERTO GINASTERA: Cantata para América Mágica
With these works Edgard Varèse inaugurated a revolution that presaged future worlds; Carlos Chávez and Albert Ginastera harnessed that revolution to evoke a mythic past.
** One ticket for both parts **
FRIDAY, JUNE 12
11:00am-2:30pm
Ojai Valley Community Church (907 El Centro St)
Part I: One-on-One with Claire Chase
Part II: One-on-One with Wu Man, including the documentary film “Discovering a Musical Heartland: Wu Man’s Return to China”
Ara Guzelimian, Ojai Talks director
4:00pm-5:00pm
Libbey Park Gazebo
Members of ICE
STEVE REICH: Electric Counterpoint, for guitar and tape
JOHN ZORN: Apophthegms, for two violins
RAND STEIGER: Concatenation, for bassoon and electronics
SUZANNE FARRIN: Polvere et ombra, for harp
DU YUN: San, for cello and electronics
MARIO DIAZ DE LEÓN: Luciform, for flute and electronics
PAULINE OLIVEROS: Rock Piece
FREE
2015 Ojai Films are cancelled due to ongoing construction at the Ojai Playhouse. For more information, call 805 646 2053.
Part I: 6:00-7:00pm | Part II: 8:00-9:45pm
Libbey Bowl
Part I: Bartók Boulez II
Calder Quartet
Joshua Rubin, clarinet
Levy Lorenzo, live sound and electronics
Miller Puckette, electronics design support
Nicholas Houfek , lighting design
BÉLA BARTÓK: String Quartet No. 3
PIERRE BOULEZ: Dialogue de l’ombre double
BÉLA BARTÓK: String Quartet No. 5
Night and shadows – central obsessions in the works of Bartók and Boulez, heard here in two magnificent quartets and an unforgettable classic of spatial theater.
Part II: Presenting Steven Schick
Steven Schick, solo percussion
IANNIS XENAKIS: Rebonds
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN: Zyklus
KAIJA SAARIAHO: Six Japanese Gardens
DAVID LANG: The Anvil Chorus
LEI LIANG: Trans
VINKO GLOBOKAR: ?Corporel
XENAKIS: Psappha
Steven Schick presents a tour de force of solo percussion: pioneering works by Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Globokar along with pieces by today’s claimants to their bold legacies.
** One ticket for both parts **
Between concert parts, join us for a supper in the park, enjoy specialty food trucks, or visit a local restaurant – read more about Ojai Eats >>
10:30-11:30pm
Libbey Bowl
Maya Beiser, cello
Steven Schick, percussion
OSVALDO GOLIJOV: Mariel
MICHAEL HARRISON: Just Ancient Loops (with film by Bill Morrison)
ROLAND AUZET: La Cathédrale de Misère (American Premiere)
Staged version of Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters
Roland Auzet, director
Wilfried Wendeling, video & live electronic music designer
Cellist Maya Beiser and Steven Schick perform works that confront spiritual and psychological voids, spaces in which light, film, and drama intensify what music intimates.
FREE – Ticket required
SATURDAY, JUNE 13
8:00-9:00am
Zalk Theater
Besant Hill School (8585 Ojai Santa Paula Rd)*
ICE
Nicholas Houfek, lights
Levy Lorenzo, sound and custom light mapping software
JULIO ESTRADA: Memorias—para teclado
PAULINE OLIVEROS: Thirteen Changes: For Malcolm Goldstein
ANNA THORVALDSDÓTTIR: In the Light of Air
Three composers explore the creative act of listening – the aural tapestry of our memories, the delights of shared improvisation, and the revelations of environmental awareness.
*Ojai Sunrises are an Ojai Member Event at the $100 level.
Learn more about Membership here >>
11:00am-12:45pm
Libbey Bowl
Gloria Cheng & Vicki Ray, pianos
Mellissa Hughes, soprano
ICE
red fish blue fish
Steven Schick, conductor
OLIVIER MESSIAEN: Visions de l’amen
MAURICE RAVEL: Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé: Soupir
PIERRE BOULEZ: Improvisation sur Mallarmé I: Le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd’hui
RAVEL: Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé: Placet futile
BOULEZ: Improvisation sur Mallarmé II: Une dentelle s’abolit
RAVEL: Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé: Surgi de la croupe et du bond
Messiaen’s visionary mysticism is joined here with works by Ravel and Boulez inspired by the poetry of Mallarmé – music enveloped in mysteries both sacred and profane.
3:00pm-4:00pm
Greenberg Activity Center
Ojai Valley School (723 El Paseo Rd)
** SOLD OUT **
Maya Beiser, cello
Glenn Kotche, percussion
Gyan Riley, electric bass
Dave Cook, sound engineer
LED ZEPPELIN (arr. Evan Ziporyn): Black Dog
GEORGE GERSHWIN/JANIS JOPLIN (arr. Evan Ziporyn): Summertime
HOWLIN’ WOLF (arr. Evan Ziporyn): Moanin’ at Midnight
PINK FLOYD (arr. Evan Ziporyn): Wish You Were Here
GLENN KOTCHE: Three Parts Wisdom
JIMI HENDRIX (arr. Evan Ziporyn): Little Wing
KURT COBAIN (arr. Evan Ziporyn): Lithium
LED ZEPPELIN: Kashmir
FREE – Ticket required
**Priority seating for series subscribers prior to Nov. 1**
Part I: 6:00-7:00pm | Part II: 8:00-9:45pm
Libbey Bowl
** Reserved seating SOLD OUT **
Part I: Bartók Boulez III
Calder Quartet
Claire Chase, flute
Jacob Greenberg, piano
BÉLA BARTÓK: String Quartet No. 4
PIERRE BOULEZ: Sonatine, for flute and piano
BÉLA BARTÓK: String Quartet No. 6
On the eve of war Bartók’s last quartet is a haunting farewell to an old world; in its wake Boulez’s Sonatine imagines the contours of the new.
Part II:
ICE
Wu Man, pipa
Renga, string ensemble
Peter Evans, trumpet
Miller Puckett & Rand Steiger, electronics
Steven Schick, conductor
RAND STEIGER: Template for Improvising Trumpeter and Ensemble
GEORGE LEWIS: The Will to Adorn
IANNIS XENAKIS: Thallein
JULIA WOLFE: Four Marys (string orchestra version) – World Premiere
LOU HARRISON: Concerto for Pipa with String Orchestra
A concert in which beauty takes many forms – sometimes wild, exuberant in its excess; sometimes chaste and restrained with a friendly nod to neighbors near and far.
10:30-11:30pm
Libbey Bowl
ICE
Renga
Steven Schick, conductor
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS: Become River – WEST COAST PREMIERE
AARON COPLAND: Appalachian Spring (chamber version)
John Luther Adams, a musical poet of nature’s wonders; Aaron Copland, the singer of a nation’s spirit – are joined together in a concert celebrating the flow of living things.
SUNDAY, JUNE 14
5:00-9:30am
Ojai Art Center*
(113 S. Montgomery St)
Claire Chase, flute
Sarah Rothenberg, piano
Steven Schick, percussion
MORTON FELDMAN: For Philip Guston
Morton Feldman’s tribute to his friend, the artist Philip Guston, is an extended contemplation of the minimal, abstract gestures that contain within themselves a universe of thought and emotion.
*Ojai Sunrises are an Ojai Member Event at the $100 level.
Learn more about Membership here >>
11:00am-1:00pm
Libbey Bowl
Maya Beiser, cello
Wu Man, pipa
Sandeep Das, tabla
Calder Quartet
red fish blue fish
MOHAMMED FAIROUZ: Kol Nidrei
CHINARY UNG: Khse Buon
HUIRAN WANG: Dance of the Yi People
WU MAN: Leaves Flying in Autumn
BRIGHT SHENG: Three Songs for Violoncello and Pipa
TAN DUN: Elegy: Snow in June
GABRIELA LENA FRANK: ¡Chayraq!
EVAN ZIPORYN: Sulvasutra
This is a concert about hyphenated identities, compositions that may have their origins in biography and experience, but which anticipate a global humanity in which hyphens disappear.
3:00-4:00pm
Ojai Art Center Courtyard*
(113 S. Montgomery St)
MICHAEL GORDON: Timber
Michael Gordon’s Timber focuses on the acoustic properties of six un-pitched wooden blocks whose rich, resonant overtones create a sonic halo that dances in space.
*Concert in the Courtyard is a Donor Event.
Learn more here >>
5:30-7:30pm
Libbey Bowl
ICE
Gloria Cheng, piano
Vicki Ray, piano
Joseph Pereira, timpani
Steven Schick, percussion & conductor
Bartók Boulez IV
PIERRE BOULEZ: Dérive 2 (2009 version)
BÉLA BARTÓK: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
Bartók and Boulez are masters of shaping sound into architecture: the one interweaving intricate design with expressive freedom, the other clothing mathematical rigor in music of utter enchantment.
Please note: Programs, artists, and prices are subject to change. Please visit OjaiFestival.org for current programming information. All sales are final. No refunds, including cancellation due to rain. If you are unable to use your tickets, a tax-deductible receipt can be issued – please call our box office at 805 646 2053 for more information. Tickets will be mailed in May.