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