Music Director Claire Chase and Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian Announce Updates for the 79th Festival, June 5 to 8, 2025
The Ojai Music Festival celebrates collaboration and dialogue across multiple generations of composers and performers, including four World Premieres of works by Susie Ibarra, Tania León, Terry Riley, and Bahar Royaee; two U.S. Premieres by Tania León and Liza Lim; eight West Coast Premieres; residencies by Tania León, Annea Lockwood, Liza Lim, Craig Taborn, Susie Ibarra, Leilehua Lanzilotti, and Marcos Balter; and seminal works by John Coltrane, Julius Eastman, Sofia Gubaidulina, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and more
“There’s no place in the world like Ojai, and there is no gathering of musicians and ideas like the Ojai Festival. From the time I was a kid growing up in Southern California, the Festival has taken on mythical dimensions for me.” – Claire Chase, 2025 Music Director
(March 19, 2025, OJAI, CA) — The 79th Ojai Music Festival, running June 5 to 8, 2025, welcomes as Music Director one of today’s most vital artists, flutist Claire Chase. Chase, together with the Festival’s Artistic and Executive Director, Ara Guzelimian, today announces the complete programming for the June Festival, welcoming a multi-generational international community of composers, performers, composer-performers, and improvisers.
Claire Chase is known internationally as a flutist, new music advocate, and educator. After establishing her professional career as co-founder and artistic director of the multi-award-winning International Contemporary Ensemble, Chase quickly developed a reputation as an artist with a penchant for collaboration and community-building. Her esteem within the new music community continued to grow with the 2013 launch of her signature Density 2036 project. This 24-year initiative—in which she commissions a program of new pieces for flute each year, concluding in 2036—has enriched the contemporary flute repertoire with dozens of new compositions, while the Density Fellows program, founded in 2023, mentors a new generation of flutists while ensuring the pieces remain in the repertoire. In recognition of her efforts, she has earned the Avery Fisher Prize, a MacArthur Fellowship, and, in the 2022–23 season, served as the Richard and Barbara Debs Creative Chair at Carnegie Hall.
“Claire Chase is one of the most vibrant generators of ideas in today’s musical life,” says Guzelimian, “something she does with boundless imagination and generosity of spirit. It’s been so rewarding to imagine all of Ojai’s possibilities with her. I’m particularly excited by the musical community she’s creating with the resident performers and composers, weaving them throughout in collaborations and cross-current inspirations. And being a native of California, Claire responds deeply to the particular beauty and complexity of Ojai’s natural setting, something represented in many works that explore many distinct environments.”
Under Chase’s musical leadership, the 2025 Ojai Music Festival celebrates collaboration and dialogue across multiple generations of composers. Among them are Composers-in-Residence Tania León, Annea Lockwood, Liza Lim, and Marcos Balter; composer-performers Craig Taborn (piano), Leilehua Lanzilotti (viola), and Susie Ibarra (percussion); luminaries including Sofia Gubaidulina, Terry Riley, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir; and emerging composers including Eduardo Aguilar, Vincent Atria, and Bahar Royaee. Together, these artists will present new and recent works—including four world premieres, one U.S. premiere, and eight West Coast premieres—in dialogue with one another, as well as with era-defining artists such as J.S. Bach, John Coltrane, Julius Eastman, and Pauline Oliveros. In the spirit of Chase’s tireless advocacy for new music, each composer appears on equal footing with one another, each piece as vital to the narrative of its program as its counterparts. Household names share the stage with rising talents, and notated works coexist with improvised ones, illuminating unexpected commonalities and delighting in divergences.
“While shaping these programs,” writes Chase, “I was inspired by the author Donna Haraway’s invitation to encounter one another in ‘unexpected combinations and collaborations,’ in what she calls ‘oddkin’—a term for our deep and unruly interdependence. What a beautiful description of the messy and miraculous experience of making music in the 21st century! The four days of the Festival will be anchored by four generations of brilliant composers whose projects—though wonderfully divergent stylistically—explore common themes of rebirth, re-imagination, reclamation, and rewilding. Our programs will be brought to life by an exhilarating lineup of performers whose manifold musical backgrounds will meet in unpredictable and electrifying new ways. From Thursday to Sunday, we will conjure thinking forests, liberated rivers, endangered charms, ancient mythologies, holy presences, magical spells, and reimagined communities. And we will embrace multispecies collaboration in performance experiences that extend from the newly rewilded landscapes of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy to the feathered night choruses fluttering around Libbey Bowl. My hope is that these programs will illuminate and celebrate the fragilities as well as the exuberant possibilities of music made in oddkin. I look forward to welcoming you to the adventure!”
The spirit of collaboration and found community suffuses not only the music and its presentation, but the performers themselves. Ojai’s 2025 Festival collaborators represent artists from the Latin American, European, Australian, and American contemporary music scenes. Among them are returning artists Steven Schick, who previously served as 2015 Music Director; cellist Seth Parker Woods; the JACK Quartet comprising violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Jay Campbell; cellist Katinka Kleijn; Levy Lorenzo, percussion and electronics; M.A. Tiesenga, saxophone and electronic hurdy-gurdy; percussionist Ross Karre; clarinetist Joshua Rubin; bassist (and ELISON Ensemble member) Kathryn Schulmeister; and pianist Cory Smythe. Several artists appear in their Festival debut, including Wu Wei, sheng; Michael Matsuno, flute; Ben Marks, trombone, and Tristram Williams, trumpet, of ELISION Ensemble; Alex Peh, keyboards; Leilehua Lanzilotti, composer and viola; Susie Ibarra, composer and percussion; Craig Taborn, composer and piano; Wesley Sumpter, percussion; and the USC Cello Ensemble.
Rather than limiting each artist to set ensembles, this year’s Festival collaborators comprise a single, flexible ensemble whose various configurations can flow and evolve to best suit the unique requirements of each program. “In the spirit of collectivism and collaboration, I’m excited to invite these artists to play together in new and sometimes surprising ensemble configurations,” says Chase. “We’ll all show up as both headliners and side acts in each other’s explorations.”
The 2025 Festival opens on Thursday, June 5 with Annea Lockwood’s Bayou-Borne, an affectionate tribute to Pauline Oliveros, and culminates with Marcos Balter’s Pan from Chase’s Density 2036 project. Balter’s already iconic Pan (2017–18) is a musical drama for solo flute, live electronics, and an ensemble of community musicians. The all-ages, all-abilities Pan ensemble—a kind of 21st-century Greek chorus that serves as the conscience of the community in this telling of the Greek myth—is assembled newly in each city to which the work travels.
Friday, June 6 begins with an early morning program featuring the JACK Quartet with works by Tania León, Liza Lim, and two emerging composers, Vicente Atria and Eduardo Aguilar. The Libbey Bowl concert on Friday at 10:30am celebrates the old made new in Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Impressions for harpsichord and the world premiere of Alex Peh’s trio arrangement of Terry Riley’s Pulsing Lifters and ends with a “summit meeting” between Craig Taborn and Cory Smythe, two inventive composers and pianists whose worlds encompass creative music, free jazz, new music, and beyond.
In its West Coast premiere, Australian composer Liza Lim’s Density 2036 contribution Sex Magic for solo contrabass flute and electronics centers Friday afternoon. Inspired by Claire Chase’s towering contrabass flute (Bertha), Sex Magic evokes and celebrates women’s 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.
Terry Riley’s The Holy Liftoff will be featured on the Friday evening Libbey Bowl concert. Claire Chase partners with the JACK Quartet in a 45-minute rendition realized in collaboration with Samuel Clay Birmaher that was conceived as a series of musical sketches and brilliantly colored drawings. Of Riley’s Density 2036-commissioned work Chase said, “At 90 years old, Terry is on fire with ideas. He’s creating new forms and inciting collaborations with urgency and vitality. For Ojai, we are imagining the limitless variations, realizations, and possible interpretations of his ‘liftoff’ to include both performers and audiences.” Music for a “chorus of cellos” by Sofia Gubaidulina and Julius Eastman precede The Holy Liftoff.
On Saturday, June 7, the first Libbey Bowl concert of the day centers on the West Coast premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Density 2036 commission Ubique for flute, two cellos, piano, and electronics. Thorvaldsdottir describes the work as “inspired by the notion of being everywhere at the same time, an enveloping omnipresence, while simultaneously focusing on details within the density of each particle, echoed in various forms of fragmentation and interruption and in the sustain of certain elements of a sound beyond their natural resonance. Throughout the piece, sounds are both reduced to their smallest particles and their atmospheric presence expanded towards the infinite.”
Saturday afternoon continues with the West Coast premiere of composer-pianist Craig Taborn’s Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano, and electronics. Composed for Chase’s Density 2036 project, Taborn’s critically acclaimed piece was inspired by a dream in which plants awake, blossom, grow, and change as the dreamer walks through a garden. (A second performance of Taborn’s Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms will be offered on Sunday afternoon, June 8.) At the Libbey Bowl that evening is a program of music by Bach, Sofia Gubaidulina (inspired by Bach), and Tania León, concluding with Liza Lim’s large-scale How Forests Think, a work inspired by the imagery of ancient forests as vibrant, symbiotic communities that, as Lim writes, “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.”
On Sunday, June 8, the JACK Quartet explores their ongoing Modern Medieval project at Libbey Bowl, with music from the 14th to 17th centuries renewed for contemporary performance by composers/JACK violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman. The program includes the West Coast premiere of Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands, a musical tribute to rich and fragile ecosystems inspired by the distinct rainforest habitats of Luzon, Philippines. The work features the interlocking rhythms and melodies of Philippine Northern style bamboo, gong, and flute music, performed on new sound sculptures of gong metals. Sky Islands is described as “a musical call to action, drawing awareness to dwindling biodiversity, changing climate, and global community practices.”
An exuberant all-company 2025 Festival finale on Sunday afternoon includes music by Leilehua Lanzilotti, Pauline Oliveros’s The Witness and the world premiere of a new version of Tania León’s Singsong adapted for solo flute. The Festival culminates in the world premiere of Terry Riley’s Pulsefield 3,in ajoyous celebration of the composer’s 90th birthday.
COMMUNITY OFFERINGS An integral part of the immersive Ojai Festival experience are the free community events in Libbey Park and throughout Ojai. The 2025 schedule will include two “Morning Meditations.” On Saturday, June 7 at the Ojai Meadows Preserve, in a collaboration with the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, the free event will feature the music of Pauline Oliveros and Susie Ibarra. On Sunday, June 8 at Chapparal Auditorium, the Morning Meditation will include music of Leilehua Lanzilotti, Bahar Royaee, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir. During Festival weekend, Annea Lockwood’s Housatonic sound installation will be open to Festival patrons and the community. The annual family concert at the Libbey Gazebo will take place on Sunday following the Libbey Bowl morning concert with featured artists.
OJAI FILMS The Ojai Music Festival welcomes the return of showcasing documentaries during the weekend at the recently remodeled Ojai Playhouse. The two films featured will be Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros and 32 Sounds. Deep Listening is a documentary film project by Daniel Weintraub. Produced in collaboration with executive producer lone, Oliveros’s partner in life and work, and the Ministry of Maat, Inc., the film combines rare archival footage, live performances, and unreleased music with appearances by Terry Riley, Anna Halprin, lone, Linda Montano, Laurie Anderson, Thurston Moore, Alvin Lucier, Claire Chase, Miya Masaoka, Morton Subotnick, Tony Martin, Ramon Sender, and many more ground-breaking artists. 32 Sounds is a film by Sam Green, with music by JD Samson. This immersive documentary and profound sensory experience 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.
EXPERIENCE THE 79TH OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL, JUNE 5 TO 8, 2025 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 $175 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].
CLAIRE CHASE, MUSIC DIRECTOR Claire Chase, described by The New York Times recently as “the North Star of her instrument’s ever-expanding universe,” is a musician, interdisciplinary artist, and teacher. Passionately dedicated to the creation of new ecosystems for the music of our time, Chase has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works by a new generation of artists. She was the first flutist to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2012, and in 2017 was the first flutist to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize for Classical Music from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Chase served as the Richard and Barbara Debs Creative Chair at Carnegie Hall in the 2022–23 season and serves as the Music Director for the 2025 Ojai Music Festival. Previously, Chase performed at the Ojai Music Festival with the International Contemporary Ensemble in 2015 with that year’s Music Director Steven Schick, in 2016 with Music Director Peter Sellars, and in 2017 with Music Director Vijay Iyer.
Chase has performed as a soloist recently with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and London Philharmonia. This season, Chase toured Europe and Japan with the premiere of a new double concerto by Dai Fujikura for flute and violin (with collaborators Leila Josefowicz and Akiko Suwanai). In the 2022–23 season, Chase premiered a new double concerto by Felipe Lara with the vocalist and bassist esperanza spalding and the conductor Susanna Mälkki, which was named one of the Best Classical Music Performances of the Year by The New York Times.
In 2013, Chase launched the 24-year commissioning project Density 2036, described by The New Yorker as “a quarter-century journey with little precedent.” Now in its twelfth year, Density reimagines the solo flute literature through commissions, performances, recordings, educational initiatives, and a community-focused approach to cultural production. In 2023, Chase performed all ten Density programs to date in a weeklong series of events co-produced by Carnegie Hall and The Kitchen. Central to the Density project is a commitment to supporting an international, multigenerational community of flutists who will take the Density repertoire in bold new interpretive directions. The Density Fellowsprogram, launched in 2023 in celebration of the tenth anniversary,provides an international cohort of emerging flutists with the resources to make the Density repertoire their own. Chase is the artistic director of Density Arts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the flute in the 21st century.
As an undergraduate at Oberlin Conservatory, Chase co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble, a collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to creating collaborations built on equity and cultural responsiveness. She served as the ensemble’s artistic director until 2017 and as an ensemble member on performance and educational projects on five continents, developing an artist-driven organizational model that resulted in the premieres of more than 1,000 new works and earned the group multiple Chamber Music America/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center, and the Ensemble of the Year Award from Musical America Worldwide.
A deeply committed educator, Chase is Professor of the Practice in the Department of Music at Harvard University, where she teaches courses on contemporary music, interdisciplinary collaboration, and cultural advocacy. Chase is also Creative Associate at The Juilliard School, where she mentors young artists and engages students in a range of interdisciplinary projects. With her longtime colleague Steven Schick, she co-founded Ensemble Evolution at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, a three-week intensive for the next generation of interdisciplinary artists, curators, and teachers. Chase’s Debs Creative Chair residency at Carnegie Hall encompassed programming for all ages, including a “Day of Listening” for children and families inspired by the listening philosophies of Pauline Oliveros. Chase partnered with MacArthur Fellow Josh Kun and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to expand her Pauline Oliveros project as part of the PST ART x Science Collide festival in November 2024.
Claire Chase’s extensive discography includes eight solo albums of world premiere recordings and dozens of collaborative recordings with ensembles, composers, and sound artists from a wide range of musical genres. Chase grew up in Leucadia, California, with the childhood dream of becoming a professional baseball player before she discovered the flute. She lives in Brooklyn.
ARA GUZELIMIAN, ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ara Guzelimian is the Artistic and Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival, having begun in that position in July 2020. The appointment culminates many years of association with the Festival including tenures as director of the Ojai Talks and as Artistic Director from 1992–97. Guzelimian stepped down as Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City in June 2020, having served in that position since 2007. He continues at Juilliard as Special Advisor.
Prior to the Juilliard appointment, he was Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall from 1998 to 2006. Guzelimian serves as artistic consultant for the Marlboro Music Festival and School in Vermont. He is a member of the steering committee of the Aga Khan Music Awards, the artistic committee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in London, and a board member of the Amphion and Pacific Harmony Foundations. He is also a member of the music visiting committee of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.
Previously, Guzelimian held the position of Artistic Administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado, and he was long associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, first as producer for the orchestra’s national radio broadcasts and subsequently as Artistic Administrator. Guzelimian is editor of Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Pantheon Books, 2002), a collection of dialogues between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. In September 2003, he was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.
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. Now in its 78th 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 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. 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, welcomes as Music Director one of today’s most vital artists flutist Claire Chase. Reflecting on Ojai’s 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 today’s most vital artists flutist Claire Chase. Reflecting on Ojai’s 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 Lim’s Sex Magic, Craig Taborn’s Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms, Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Ubique, Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands, and Terry Riley’s Pulsefield
The Festival celebrates multiple generations of composers, including residencies by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Tania León, Annea Lockwood, Liza Lim, and Marcos Balter; composer-performers include Craig Taborn (piano), Leilehua Lanzilotti (viola), and Susie Ibarra (percussion)
An all-star “meta-ensemble” 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 Australia’s ELISION Ensemble
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 at concerts, administrative office work, and concessions to housing Festival artists and production team. The Festival is fortunate to have a large community of volunteers who make the experience even more memorable.
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.
L-R: Wendy Gray and Jodine Hammerand at the Festival’s volunteer event in March, 2024
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.
OJAI, CA- June 11, 2015: Music Director Steven Schick leads ICE in Varese’s Deserts at Libbey Bowl during the 2015 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.
Deadlines and Submission of Artwork Space deadline: April 15, 2025 Artwork due: April 21, 2025
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.
(Ojai CA – February 5, 2025) – Composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to the Ojai Music Festival to serve as Music Director for the 80th Festival, June 11 to 14, 2026. Since the late 1940s, the Festival has continued the tradition of appointing a new Music Director each year, fostering vitality and diversity in its programming throughout the years.
“Esa-Pekka Salonen is one of the most inventive, adventurous thinkers of 21st-century musical life. The unique format of the Ojai Music Festival gives him an unusually free creative hand as both composer and conductor. I’m thrilled at the prospect of all that he will dream up,” said Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian.
Esa-Pekka Salonen, who previously collaborated with the Ojai Music Festival as Music Director for the 1999 and 2001 Festivals, is known as both a composer and conductor. He is the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony and the Conductor Laureate for the Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. As a member of the faculty of the Colburn School, he directs the pre-professional Negaunee Conducting Program. Salonen co-founded, and until 2018 served as the Artistic Director of the annual Baltic Sea Festival.
This season, Salonen leads the San Francisco Symphony in world premieres of works by Nico Muhly, Xavier Muzik, and Gabriella Smith, among many other programs. He also returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra—both in London and on tour in Italy—and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he leads wide-ranging programs including Bryce Dessner’s Violin Concerto with Pekka Kuusisto and Boulez’s Notations with Pierre-Laurent Aimard. With the Orchestre de Paris, Salonen conducts a reprise of his and Romeo Castellucci’s staged production of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” and a Boulez Centennial celebration with choreography by Benjamin Millepied, while a Salzburg Easter Festival residency with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra centers on a new Simon McBurney production of Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina.
Salonen’s compositions are programmed with thirteen different orchestras this season. He conducts his own Tiu, kínēma, and cello concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; he also conducts the cello concerto with The Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony. With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, he leads his Sinfonia concertante for organ and orchestra. His works, led by other conductors, also appear on programs at the Montreal and Aarhus symphony orchestras (Sinfonia concertante), Munich Philharmonic (Insomnia), Lahti Symphony Orchestra (kínēma), Netherlands Radio and Magdeburg philharmonic orchestras (Gemini), Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra (Nyx), Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (Cello Concerto), and Ensemble intercontemporain (Meeting).
Salonen has an extensive and varied recording career. Releases with the San Francisco Symphony include recordings of Bartók’s piano concertos, spatial audio recordings of several Ligeti compositions, and the GRAMMY® Award-winning (Best Opera Recording) world premiere recording of Saariaho’s Adriana Mater. Other recent recordings include Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin and Dance Suite, and a 2018 box set of his complete Sony recordings. His compositions appear on releases from Sony and Deutsche Grammophon, among others; his Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, and Cello Concerto all appear on recordings he conducted himself. Initial details about Mr. Salonen’s 2026 Ojai Music Festival will be shared prior to the 79th Festival, June 5 to 8, 2025, with Music Director Claire Chase. Please visit OjaiFestival.org for information.
ARA GUZELIMIAN, ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ara Guzelimian is the Artistic and Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival, having begun in that position in July 2020. The appointment culminates many years of association with the Festival including tenures as director of the Ojai Talks and as Artistic Director from 1992–97. Guzelimian stepped down as Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City in June 2020, having served in that position since 2007. He continues at Juilliard as Special Advisor.
Guzelimian serves as artistic consultant for the Marlboro Music Festival and School in Vermont. He is a member of the steering committee of the Aga Khan Music Awards, the artistic committee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in London, and a board member of the Amphion and Pacific Harmony Foundations. Prior to the Juilliard appointment, he was Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall from 1998 to 2006 and earlier held positions at the Aspen Music Festival and School and at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Guzelimian is editor of Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Pantheon Books, 2002), a collection of dialogues between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. In September 2003, he was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.
OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL The Ojai Music Festival represents an ideal of adventurous, open-minded, and openhearted programming in the most beautiful and welcoming settings, with audiences and artists to match its aspirations. Now in 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 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. The intimate Festival weekend, considered a highlight of the international summer music 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, American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*), 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.
79th OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL, JUNE 5 TO 8, 2025, WITH MUSIC DIRECTOR CLAIRE CHASE 2025 Libbey Bowl series passes are available and may be purchased online at OjaiFestival.org or by calling (805) 646-2053. Passes start at $215 for reserved seating. Lawn Area passes start at $90. Single tickets and day passes will go on sale in spring 2025. Follow Festival updates at OjaiFestival.org.
At the Ojai Music Festival, we thrive on experimentation and discovery—both 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 it’s 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 wouldn’t 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.”
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 world’s 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 Festival’s 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 Ojai’s 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 Ojai’s 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 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.
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 “doctor” 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 children’s 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!) – she pointed with delight and said, “there’s the bunny,” 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! Here’s 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. I’m 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 – 75% – 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.
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.
“As an intern for the Ojai Music Festival, you become a messenger for the organization’s purpose: to dare the audience to be innovative listeners of new music. The office staff and other interns become your mentors and family for the duration of your internship experience. Working with like-minded people creates the perfect atmosphere for discussion and pushes you to be your best creative self.”
Emily Persinko, San Diego State University, Ojai Alum 2016-2018
About the Program
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.
“I had an incredible experience as an intern and got a first-hand look at what life as a stage manager and concert producer is like, and knew exactly what I wanted to do as a career! Shortly after the internship, using the skills I gained and my experience working with high-level artists, I secured several professional stage managing and artist liaison gigs in Santa Barbara. After graduating, I secured a position at Pacific Symphony in Irvine, CA, working as a production manager in their Youth Ensembles program. I am also grateful to have returned to Ojai every year since as a permanent member of the production team! The skills I picked up from my time at Ojai have been a huge influence on my professional career and I am forever grateful for that opportunity!”
Jonathan Bergeron, University of California Santa Barbara, Production Fellow 2021
Internship Requirements
Applicants must be 18 or over, and current college (undergraduate or graduate) students. Knowledge of classical music is suggested but is not a requirement. Interns commit to 1-2 weeks in Ojai and must be available during the Festival week (June 3-9, 2025). Please indicate on your application if you have special schedule requirements.
Festival interns have come from colleges and universities throughout the country. Expand to see the list!
“If you want to grow your interpersonal skills, understand the music industry, and learn more about contemporary music, this is a really great experience.”
Complete the internship application: fill out the forms, select your department interests (listed below), 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 college and career goals. Letters from college faculty must be on school letterhead. These letters may be uploaded with the application or sent to the office directly.
“It is exciting to see modern music and a large audience interested in new things. I enjoyed hearing such versatile musicians. Nice balance of density of events. I learned so much!”
Each of the Festival’s 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 “good fit for” 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 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.
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.
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 Festival’s 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 Festival’s 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.
Patron Services (Retail/Concessions)
Patron services work with the Retail Managers to sell and manage merchandise. They complete pre- and post-inventories, determine signage and décor needs, and provide a warm customer experience during the Festival.
A good fit for: interns interested in gaining experience in customer service and retail management.
“The Ojai Music Festival was an amazing experience. I met great people, listened to fabulous music, and learned about the ins and outs of putting on a music festival. Having a team of interns to hang out with throughout the days was a bonus highlight of my experience. All of the people working with OMF were kindhearted and nice. This experience was extremely rewarding. I learned a lot while I interned at the Ojai Music Festival and can’t wait for next year!!”
Lizzy Tepaske, University of California Santa Barbara, Ojai Alum 2021
Submit your application by filling out the form below. If you are a returning intern, fill out the returning intern application by clicking this button:
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.
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 – 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 life’s 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 “quiet playlist of thanksgiving,” 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 Lara’s Meditation and Calligraphy and includes such treasured Ojai artists as Víkingur 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 – Rainy Day from the Silk Road Ensemble’s 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.
Festival programming will include the West Coast Premieres of Liza Lim’s Sex Magic, Craig Taborn’s Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms, Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Ubique, Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands, and Terry Riley’s Pulsefield
Festival celebrates multiple generations of composers, including works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Tania León, Annea Lockwood, Liza Lim, and Marcos Balter; composer-performers include Craig Taborn (piano), Leilehua Lanzilotti (viola), and Susie Ibarra (percussion)
An all-star “meta-ensemble” 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 Australia’s ELISION Ensemble
“There’s no place in the world like Ojai, and there is no gathering of musicians and ideas like the Ojai Festival. From the time I was a kid growing up in Southern California, the Festival has taken on mythical dimensions for me.” – Claire Chase, 2025 Music Director
(OJAI CA – October 15, 2024) — The 79th Ojai Music Festival, June 5 to 8, 2025, welcomes as Music Director one of today’s most vital artists, flutist Claire Chase. Reflecting on Ojai’s 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.
Described by Chase as a kind of “meta ensemble,” Ojai’s 2025 Festival collaborators include returning artists Steven Schick, who previously served as 2015 Music Director; cellist Seth Parker Woods; the JACK Quartet comprising violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Jay Campbell; clarinetist Joshua Rubin; percussionist Ross Karre; and composerTania León. Ojai welcomes several artists in their first Festival appearances including Annea Lockwood, composer; Wu Wei, sheng; Marcos Balter, composer; Susie Ibarra, composer, sound artist and percussion; Katinka Kleijn, cello; Leilehua Lanzilotti, composer and viola; Liza Lim, composer; Cory Smythe and Alex Peh, keyboards; Craig Taborn, piano, electronic musician and composer/improviser; M.A. Tiesenga, saxophone and electronic hurdy-gurdy; and members of ELISION Ensemble.
“In the spirit of collectivism and collaboration, I’m excited to invite these artists to play together in new and sometimes surprising ensemble configurations. We’ll all show up as both headliners and side acts in each other’s explorations,” commented Claire Chase.
“While shaping these programs,” writes Chase, “I was inspired by the author Donna Haraway’s invitation to encounter one another in “unexpected combinations and collaborations,” in what she calls “oddkin”—a term for our deep and unruly interdependence. What a beautiful description of the messy and miraculous experience of making music in the 21st century! The four days of the Festival will be anchored by four generations of brilliant composers whose projects—though wonderfully divergent stylistically—explore common themes of rebirth, re-imagination, reclamation, and re-wilding. Our programs will be brought to life by an exhilarating lineup of performers whose manifold musical backgrounds will meet in unpredictable and electrifying new ways. From Thursday to Sunday, we will conjure thinking forests, liberated rivers, endangered charms, ancient mythologies, holy presences, magical spells, and reimagined communities. And we will embrace multispecies collaboration in performance experiences that extend from the newly rewilded landscapes of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy to the feathered night choruses fluttering around Libbey Bowl. My hope is that these programs will illuminate and celebrate the fragilities as well as the exuberant possibilities of music made in oddkin. I look forward to welcoming you to the adventure!”
Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian said, “Claire Chase is one of the most vibrant generators of ideas in today’s musical life, something she does with boundless imagination and generosity of spirit. It’s been so rewarding to imagine all of Ojai’s possibilities with her. I’m particularly excited by the musical community she’s creating with the resident performers and composers, weaving them throughout in collaborations and cross-current inspirations. And being a native Californian, Claire responds deeply to the particular beauty and complexity of Ojai’s natural setting, something represented in many works that explore many distinct environments.”
The 2025 Festival opens on Thursday, June 5 with Annea Lockwood’s bayou-borne, an affectionate tribute to Pauline Oliveros, and culminates with Marcos Balter’s Pan from Chase’s epic Density 2036 project. Balter’s already iconic Pan (2017-18) is an evening-length musical drama for solo flute, live electronics, and an ensemble of community musicians. The all-ages, all-abilities Pan ensemble—a kind of 21st-century Greek chorus that serves as the conscience of the community in this telling of the Greek myth—is assembled newly in each city to which the work travels.
Friday (June 6) begins with an early morning program featuring the JACK Quartet with works by Tania León, Leilehua Lanziliotti, and two exciting emerging composers, Vicente Atria and Eduardo Aguilar. The Libbey Bowl concert on Friday celebrates the old made new in Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s 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.
In its West Coast premiere, Australian composer Liza Lim’s Sex Magic for solo contrabass flute and electronics centers Friday afternoon. Inspired by Claire Chase’s towering contrabass flute (Bertha), Sex Magic celebrates the sacred erotic in women’s history, evoking 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.
Terry Riley’s The Holy Liftoff will be featured on the Friday evening Libbey Bowl concert. Performed by Claire Chase and the JACK Quartet, The Holy Liftoff was conceived as a series of musical sketches and brilliantly colored drawings. Of Riley’s recent work Chase said, “At 90 years young, Terry is on fire with ideas. He’s creating new ideas and inciting collaborations and connections with urgency and vitality. For Ojai, we are imagining the limitless variations, realizations and possible interpretations of his ‘liftoff’ to include both performers and audiences.” Music for a “chorus of cellos” by Sofia Gubaidulina and Julius Eastman precede The Holy Liftoff.
On Saturday, June 7, following a free “morning meditation” in the Ojai Meadow Preserves, a collaboration with the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, the first Libbey Bowl concert of the day centers on the West Coast premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Ubique for flute, two cellos, piano and electronics. Thorvaldsdottir describes the work as “inspired by the notion of being everywhere at the same time, an enveloping omnipresence, while simultaneously focusing on details within the density of each particle, echoed in various forms of fragmentation and interruption and in the sustain of certain elements of a sound beyond their natural resonance – throughout the piece, sounds are both reduced to their smallest particles and their atmospheric presence expanded towards the infinite.”
Saturday afternoon continues with the West Coast premiere of composer-pianist Craig Taborn’s Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano and electronics. Taborn’s 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 Taborn’s Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms will be offered on Sunday afternoon, June 8.) At the Libbey Bowl that evening is a program of music by Bach, Sofia Gubaidulina (inspired by Bach) and Tania León, preceding Liza Lim’s large-scale How Forests Think. A work inspired by the imagery of ancient forests as vibrant, symbiotic communities that, as the Lim writes, “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.”
Sunday morning begins with another free “morning meditation” program. The JACK Quartet then explores their ongoing “Modern/Medieval” project mid-morning at Libbey Bowl, with music from the 14th to 17th centuries renewed for contemporary performance by composers/JACK violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman. The program includes the west coast premiere of Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands, a musical tribute to rich and fragile ecosystems inspired by the distinct rainforest habitats of Luzon, Philippines. The work features the interlocking rhythms and melodies of Philippine Northern-style bamboo, gong, and flute music, performed on new sound sculptures of gong metals. Sky Islands is described as “a musical call to action, drawing awareness to dwindling biodiversity, changing climate and global community practices.”
An exuberant all-company 2025 Festival finale includes music by Leilehua Lanzilotti, Pauline Oliveros’ The Witness and the West Coast premiere of Terry Riley’s Pulsefield as the joyous ending in celebration of his 90th birthday.
A complete 2025 Ojai Music Festival schedule will be announced in January 2025. Programs and artists are subject to change. For 2025 artist and composer biographies and for Festival updates, visit OjaiFestival.org.
EXPERIENCE THE 79th OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL, JUNE 5 TO 8, 2025 2025 Libbey Bowl series passes are available and may be purchased online at OjaiFestival.org or by calling (805) 646-2053. Passes start at $215 for reserved seating. Lawn Area passes start at $90. Single tickets and day passes will go on sale in spring 2025. Follow Festival updates at OjaiFestival.org.
CLAIRE CHASE, MUSIC DIRECTOR Claire Chase, described by The New York Times recently as “the North Star of her instrument’s ever-expanding universe,” is a musician, interdisciplinary artist, and teacher. Passionately dedicated to the creation of new ecosystems for the music of our time, Chase has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works by a new generation of artists. She was the first flutist to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2012, and in 2017 was the first flutist to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize for Classical Music from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Chase served as the Richard and Barbara Debs Creative Chair at Carnegie Hall in the 2022-23 season and serves as the Music Director for the 2025 Ojai Music Festival. Previously, Chase performed at the Ojai Music Festival with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in 2015 with that year’s Music Director Steven Schick, in 2016 with Music Director Peter Sellars, and in 2017 with Music Director Vijay Iyer.
Chase has performed as a soloist recently with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and London Philharmonia. Upcoming concerto projects include the world premiere of a new duo concerto by Dai Fujikura for Chase and the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, which the pair will premiere with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, with subsequent performances with Ensemble Resonanz at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and on tour in Switzerland, Belgium, Turkey, and Greece. In the 2022-23 season, Chase premiered a new duo concerto by Felipe Lara with the vocalist and bassist esperanza spalding and the conductor Susanna Mälkki, which was named one of the Best Classical Music Performances of the Year by The New York Times.
In 2013, Chase launched the 24-year commissioning project Density 2036, described by The New Yorker as “a quarter-century journey with little precedent.” Now in its 12th year, Density reimagines the solo flute literature through commissions, performances, recordings, educational initiatives, and a community-focused approach to cultural production. In 2023, Chase performed all ten Density programs to date in a weeklong series of events co-produced by Carnegie Hall and The Kitchen. Central to the Density project is a commitment to supporting an international, multigenerational community of flutists who will take the Density repertoire in bold new interpretive directions. The Density Fellows program, launched in 2023 in celebration of the 10th anniversary, provides an international cohort of emerging flutists with the resources to make the Density repertoire their own. Chase is the artistic director of Density Arts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the flute in the 21st century.
As an undergraduate at Oberlin Conservatory, Chase co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble, a collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to creating collaborations built on equity and cultural responsiveness. She served as the ensemble’s artistic director until 2017 and as an ensemble member on performance and educational projects on five continents, developing an artist-driven organizational model that resulted in the premieres of over 1,000 new works and earned the group multiple Chamber Music America/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center, and the Ensemble of the Year Award from Musical America Worldwide.
A deeply committed educator, Chase is Professor of the Practice in the Department of Music at Harvard University, where she teaches courses on contemporary music, interdisciplinary collaboration, and cultural advocacy. Chase is also Creative Associate at The Juilliard School, where she mentors young artists and engages students in a range of interdisciplinary projects. With her longtime colleague Steven Schick, she cofounded Ensemble Evolution at Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, a three-week intensive for the next generation of interdisciplinary artists, curators, and teachers. Chase’s Debs Creative Chair residency at Carnegie Hall encompassed programming for all ages, including a “Day of Listening” for children and families inspired by the listening philosophies of Pauline Oliveros. Chase will partner with the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to expand her Pauline Oliveros project as part of the PST ART x Science Collide festival in 2024-25.
Claire Chase’s extensive discography includes eight solo albums of world premiere recordings and dozens of collaborative recordings with ensembles, composers, and sound artists from a wide range of musical genres. Chase grew up in Leucadia, California, with the childhood dream of becoming a professional baseball player before she discovered the flute. She lives in Brooklyn.
ARA GUZELIMIAN, ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ara Guzelimian is the Artistic and Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival, having begun in that position in July 2020. The appointment culminates many years of association with the Festival including tenures as director of the Ojai Talks and as Artistic Director from 1992–97. Guzelimian stepped down as Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City in June 2020, having served in that position since 2007. He continues at Juilliard as Special Advisor.
Prior to the Juilliard appointment, he was Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall from 1998 to 2006. Guzelimian serves as artistic consultant for the Marlboro Music Festival and School in Vermont. He is a member of the steering committee of the Aga Khan Music Awards, the artistic committee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in London, and a board member of the Amphion and Pacific Harmony Foundations. He is also a member of the music visiting committee of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.
Previously, Guzelimian held the position of Artistic Administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado, and he was long associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, first as producer for the orchestra’s national radio broadcasts and, subsequently, as Artistic Administrator. Guzelimian is editor of Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society (Pantheon Books, 2002), a collection of dialogues between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. In September 2003, he was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.
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. Now in its 78th 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 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. 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.
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 museum’s 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.
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!
Claire Chase and Annea Lockwood February 25, 2025
Renowned composer Annea Lockwood will join us for a special Ojai Talks session alongside Music Director Claire Chase. Together, with Ara Guzelimian, they will delve into their shared passion for the interplay of sound in nature and its integration into their musical creations of which will be featured at this year’s Ojai Festival.
PAST TALKS
Q&A with Tom Morris and special talk with Barbara Hannigan December 4, 2024, 5:30-6:30pm Zoom
Always The Music is the fascinating story of former Ojai Music Festival Artistic Director Tom Morris’ 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. Join us for a participatory Q&A between Tom and Ara Guzelimian, plus a special conversation between Tom and 2019 Music Director Barbara Hannigan, recorded for this online session.
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.
WATCH NOW on our YouTube channel. While you’re there, subscribe to stay up-to-date on new uploads.
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 wouldn’t not be familiar with and to be awakened to new sounds and proficiency of the artists.”
(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.
Located at the Holiday Marketplace at Libbey Park (210 S. Signal Street), one is at the fountain area and another is at the building closest to the Libbey Bowl. Look for red signs reading WILL CALL
Tickets are $50. Credit card purchases only
Hours are 10PM-4PM on Saturday and 10AM-3PM Sunday
Have you ever driven by a home and instantly been enamored of it, yearning to see inside and out? Here is your opportunity to indulge your curiosity, with a house both elegant and livable. Exuding French vibes, you feel transported to that wine country, although this property is surrounded by fragrant orange groves. Inside the main house, with its massive ceilings, postcard-worthy views from every window, generous rooms, and simplicity abounding, one can only imagine how beautiful a stay in this home would be. Of course, the pool and guest house complete the picture, with areas of restful quiet and tranquility in between.
Floral Desginer: Louesa Roebuck
“The way of the flowers” has been studied for centuries. As an artist, floral designer and author, Louesa Roebuck demonstrates that one needs to understand the rules in order to bend them. In her two critically acclaimed books, Foraged Flora and Punk Ikebana, Louesa has composed stunning arrangements and installations that unite cultural influences with an exhilarating freedom from conventional floral design using regionally foraged and gleaned materials.
After moving to California from Ohio in 1998, Louesa worked at the influential Chez Panisse, which profoundly shaped the direction of her career. She continued her education of California culture and beauty working with clothing and textile designer Erica Tanov, then opened “August,” a seminal fashion, art, and community hub illustrating the intersection of luxury apparel and environmentally and socially responsible textile practices. In 2008, Louesa returned to her lifelong love of foraged floral work.
In addition to creating floral art, arrangements and installations for many illustrious clients, her work has been featured in several national and international media including Vogue, GOOP, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Wired Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, C Magazine, Gardenista, Sunset, Martha Stewart Living and more.
Working with locally seasonal foraged and sourced flora to bring Ojai’s ever-evolving abundance into Casa Valencia, Louesa has revealed how floral art, sculpture and Holiday designs can be created by embracing the flora right outside your door, inspiring you to cultivate your own vision by inviting the wonders of the natural world into your home.
Louesa lives with her partner Curtis and their three dogs in the hills above Ojai, and considers all of California her home. She, and her autographed books can often be found in their local gallery showroom, Art Port. Her books are also available at your local bookstore and online booksellers.
When two artists, who work from home, design their dream house, you can be sure the creative space will be fabulous. Combining Spanish modern, farmhouse, and bohemian elements, it is an eclectic delight! Location is key, close to town but at the end of a cul-de-sac, built into a hillside surrounded by nature. Art and personal touches give each space dramatic personality, with several sets of stairs separating the many levels. Hand-painted Moroccan tiles are found throughout the kitchen. The living room with vaulted ceiling and prodigious windows offers the perfect place to entertain with the home theater system, showcasing the owner’s successful career as a television writer. The muse of her father inspires her in the dramatic deep green office with perfectly chosen wallpaper. The poolside wooden deck is surrounded by urban greenery and the sounds of Sespe Creek with a perfect view of the Pink Moment. A professional recording studio is an impressive bonus.
Floral Designer: Emily Denver – Fleur Ojai
The owner of two sustainable floral businesses, Emily Denver is a pioneer in the field to vase, sustainable floristry movement. Fleur Ojai offers luxury florals for small gatherings and events, set design and home staging. Fleurie Florals is a tiny, traveling floral experience contained in a custom-made teardrop trailer, perfect for parties, workshops, and get togethers of all kinds.
Emily is known for her luxurious and natural style, beautifully blending colors and textures that honor the flowers. Mentored by a master florist from France at the age of 17, her design philosophy has become rooted much deeper than traditional floral technique. Emily has been fortunate to have traveled, worked, designed and taught around the world. Along the way, she has created everything from Shakespearean landscapes and English gardens, to becoming an expert on floriography, The Language of Flowers.
Emily has also lent her design aesthetic to her own line of jewelry, handbags, resort wear, and interior design. From shop windows on Melrose, to custom designing jewelry to match evening gowns for Award Season, her motto has continued to be: Good design is good design.
Born in Ventura County and raised all over the United States, Canada and Europe, Emily opened her floral studio and shop in Los Angeles in 2008. After a decade of running her successful floral business, she returned home to Ventura county’s jewel, Ojai, to create a home base of art and poetry, nature and music, creativity and passion, and of course, flowery goodness for herself, her family and her community. Creating Holiday designs for Sespe Creek Sanctuary for this year’s Holiday Home Tour has been a joy and a pleasure for her.
Emily’s floral design and styling has been featured in The Knot, Town & Country, Country Living, Vogue, Martha Stewart, Wedding Chicks, Style Me Pretty, Magnolia Rouge, and Green Wedding Shoes.
A magnificent hilltop minimalist masterpiece, designed by the owners themselves. Beyond the stainless-steel front doors, sleek contemporary lines are accented with impressive original artwork displayed throughout. Floor to ceiling windows and glass doors maximize the stunning views of the East End and the Topa Topas. The primary bedroom has two glass walls to take in the gorgeous beauty, and the huge his and hers bathrooms and wardrobes alone are worth the visit. The large outdoor terrace is “bounded” by a sparkling pool with infinity edges on three sides and leads to gorgeous desert and South African landscaping.
Floral Designer: Lynn Malone
Floral design has always been a passion for Lynn, from picking and making Mother’s Day flowers as a child, to working for nearly three decades at local nonprofit and government organizations who needed florals for their events, always within a tight budget. A self-taught designer, Lynn spent twenty years learning to create beautiful florals affordably, primarily by incorporating seasonal and foraged flowers, foliage and other natural elements.
In 2013, Lynn semi-retired to open her own flower shop, Digs, which quickly became one of Ojai’s “go to” flower shops and later evolved into three different floral design studios after the shop was sold. After five years in retail floristry, she decided it was time to REALLY retire. Soon afterward, she realized she missed the flowers and floral interactions with friends and clients. Lynn currently designs for friends, an occasional wedding, and local organizations, including the Ojai Music Festival, the Ojai Land Conservancy and Rotary Clubs, creating unique florals for events and fundraisers on a budget. She occasionally leads floral workshops for local groups to help facilitate community gatherings around floral design.
Lynn serves as the design liaison for the Holiday Home Tour, matching designers and their unique styles with the homes on the tour and providing support for designers, homeowners and committee members. Having spent most of her floral career designing for multitudes of clients with their own unique styles and needs, Lynn has learned to be flexible in her approach to floral design in keeping with different needs and aesthetics of clients and friends. She has enjoyed working with the homeowners of two of this year’s Holiday Homes, each with very diverse styles, and each themed around different holidays.
Collector’s Cottage
A charming storybook cottage, right out of a Snow White fairy tale, houses a local mini-museum of myriad collectibles. Each themed room is full to the brim with delights from bears to Barbies to Beanie Babies, from Elvis to Alice in Wonderland, and so much more. See if you can guess the names of all the costumed Bears. Be mesmerized by the train set that fills a large room, as it chugs around the Disneyland village. You’ll feel like a child again as you revisit fantasy favorites from your youth and be impressed with many significant items of sophisticated one-of-a-kind memorabilia.
Floral Designer: Lynn Malone
Floral design has always been a passion for Lynn, from picking and making Mother’s Day flowers as a child, to working for nearly three decades at local nonprofit and government organizations who needed florals for their events, always within a tight budget. A self-taught designer, Lynn spent twenty years learning to create beautiful florals affordably, primarily by incorporating seasonal and foraged flowers, foliage and other natural elements.
In 2013, Lynn semi-retired to open her own flower shop, Digs, which quickly became one of Ojai’s “go to” flower shops and later evolved into three different floral design studios after the shop was sold. After five years in retail floristry, she decided it was time to REALLY retire. Soon afterward, she realized she missed the flowers and floral interactions with friends and clients. Lynn currently designs for friends, an occasional wedding, and local organizations, including the Ojai Music Festival, the Ojai Land Conservancy and Rotary Clubs, creating unique florals for events and fundraisers on a budget. She occasionally leads floral workshops for local groups to help facilitate community gatherings around floral design.
Lynn serves as the design liaison for the Holiday Home Tour, matching designers and their unique styles with the homes on the tour and providing support for designers, homeowners and committee members. Having spent most of her floral career designing for multitudes of clients with their own unique styles and needs, Lynn has learned to be flexible in her approach to floral design in keeping with different needs and aesthetics of clients and friends. She has enjoyed working with the homeowners of two of this year’s Holiday Homes, each with very diverse styles, and each themed around different holidays.
Described as the best holiday home tour in the region, guests visit four exceptional homes during the 2024 Ojai Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace. The tour offers a diverse array of homes that reflect the unique charm of Ojai, and it celebrates the festive seasons adorned with floral inspirations by local Ojai designers.
Shoppers at the 2023 Holiday Marketplace
Marking 28 years in 2024, the Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace welcomes visitors from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties. Tours are guided by a team of volunteer docents in each home.
In addition to touring four beautiful Ojai homes, visitors to the event can do holiday shopping early at the Marketplace. On both days, 65+ vendors and artisans sell unique and handmade goods in Libbey Park from 10AM-4:30PM.
NEW! Convenient, no-hassle check-out directly at vendor booths.
During the marketplace, hear performances by students of the BRAVO programs from elementary to high school grades. Throughout the home tour, enjoy live music by the following local talents.
The Women’s Committee invites you to keep the Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace a part of your annual holiday tradition by becoming a sponsor or a volunteer.
As one of the largest financial supporters of the Ojai Music Festival and its BRAVO Education and Community Programs, the Women’s Committee is proud of its essential role in our community’s future through this annual staple.
The 2024 marketplace is now full, with 75 vendors. If you are a 2024 vendor and would like to check or edit your vendor information, log in to the portal below. If you would like for us to reach out to you when applications open up for the 2025 Marketplace, use the button below!
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:
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
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.”
“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.
2024OjaiMusicFestival FRI 6-7-24 8pm_Matthew Sadler and Alexander Freund trumpets _credit Timothy Teague (TOT_0287)_2mb resize
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2024OjaiMusicFestival SUN 6-9-24 10am_Alexi Kenney violin_credit Timothy Teague (DSC_0201)_2mb resize
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2024OjaiMusicFestival THU 6-6-24_Julie Smith Phillips with audience at the free evening Pop-Up at the Gazebo_credit Timothy Teague (TOT_9449)_2mb resize
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.
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.
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:
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
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
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
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.
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
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
Photo by Nathan Wickstrum from the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy
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!
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