2008 OJAI FESTIVAL

            November 8, 2007 – Ojai, California…Thomas W. Morris, artistic director of the Ojai Music Festival and Ojai’s 2008 music director David Robertson today announced preliminary programming for the 62^nd Ojai Music Festival, which takes place from June 5 to 8, 2008.  The 2008 Festival continues the Ojai tradition of presenting thought-provoking, and often revolutionary, music by composers and artists who are drawn to this mecca of artistic expression and adventure. 

            In keeping with Ojai’s bold tradition, David Robertson, who is well known for his consummate musicianship, dynamic presence and imaginative programming, and Mr. Morris have put together a festival that displays Mr. Robertson’s eclectic vision in programming, which ranges from Pergolesi to Steve Reich, and Messiaen to Charlie Chaplin, and reflects the interaction of words with music, the 2008 Festival interlocking leitmotif.  Among this year’s performers are Festival debuts by award-winning German actress Barbara Sukowa and the musicians of the new music ensemble Signal founded and conducted by Brad Lubman. Ojai welcomes back composer Steve Reich, soprano Dawn Upshaw, Brad Lubman, and the Ojai Festival Orchestra.

            Examples of the provocative programming being created for the 2008 Ojai Music Festival are three concerts conducted by David Robertson with the Ojai Festival Orchestra that include George Antheil’s A Jazz Symphony, the U.S. premiere of François Narboni’s El Gran Masturbador, and Charlie Chaplin’s film Modern Times, with live accompaniment of the original Chaplin score.  Another juxtaposes Philippe Manoury’s En Echo for soprano and electronics and the West Coast premiere of Michael Jarrell’s Cassandre, a mini-opera for actress and chamber orchestra of acoustical and electronic instruments based on the figure from Greek mythology, and a third program pairs Steve’s Reich’s Tehillim with Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater featuring Dawn Upshaw, who will also appear in a Saturday morning solo recital. 

The Festival opens with an all-Steve Reich program including his new Daniel Variations, employing texts from the biblical book of Daniel and the words of the late American-Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl, and Four Organs, his seminal minimalist work performed at Ojai 35 years ago during Mr. Reich’s last visit.  In another program, Mr. Reich himself joins an ensemble of percussionists, including members of NEXUS in Drumming, his popular, epic work that merges African and European elements in a blend of marimbas, glockenspiels, and tuned drums.  In addition, several free bonus events are being scheduled, two of which will celebrate the 100^th birthdays of Elliott Carter and Olivier Messiaen, and once again, Ara Guzelimian, the dean of The Juilliard School and former artistic director of the Ojai Music Festival, will lead the Festival Symposium in discussions of this year’s programming.

            Complete 62nd Ojai Music Festival programming will be announced in January 2008.

            Concerts will take place at the Libbey Bowl, an outdoor area surrounded by lush greenery, where Ojai Festival-goers have experienced performances by legendary artists of their time since the Festival’s founding in 1947.  Other events will be held at the Ojai Presbyterian Church; the Ojai Arts Center; and the Ojai Playhouse.

            The Ojai Music Festival in California’s Ojai Valley enjoys a worldwide reputation for providing artists with the freedom to present music they are passionate about in a place so idyllic that filmmaker Frank Capra transformed the area into Shangri-La for his 1937 film Lost Horizon.  Concerts take place at the outdoor Libbey Bowl, once marked sacred by the ancient Chumash Indians, where inspiration and creativity still flourish.  From its founding in 1947, a healthy spirit of eclecticism and musical daring produced concerts that were fun and inspiring. That spirit was reinforced in 1954 with the appointment of Lawrence Morton as the Festival artistic director.  A man of broad musical tastes, Mr. Morton was a visionary whose constant curiosity and unwavering integrity shaped the festival’s future direction.  Under his leadership, the Ojai Music Festival developed an enduring concept whereby the artistic director e
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