User:Westofpch/Ojai Music Festival

The Ojai Music Festival is an annual classical music festival in the United States. Held in Ojai, California (75 miles northwest of Los Angeles) for four days every June, the festival presents music, symposia, and educational programs emphasizing both contemporary composers and the discovery or rediscovery of rare or little known works by past masters.

The principal performance venue is the Libbey Bowl, an open-air setting not far from the center of Ojai.

History
Established in 1947 by music aficionado John Bauer, the Ojai Music Festival has focused on giving adventurous, eclectic, and challenging music, thus gaining a worldwide reputation for cutting-edge programming.

The festival has enjoyed collaborations with many highly regarded composers, conductors, and musicians, many of whom have served as Music Director; these include: Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Pierre Boulez, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Tilson Thomas, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, John Adams, Oliver Knussen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kent Nagano, Steve Reich, and Simon Rattle, to name a few.

In recent years, instrumentalists such as Emanuel Ax, Mitsuko Uchida, and the Emerson String Quartet have also served as Music Director;.

Artistic Directors
In 1954, Lawrence Morton was appointed as the Festival Artistic Director. A man of broad musical tastes, Morton was a visionary whose constant curiosity and unwavering integrity shaped the Festival's future direction. Under his leadership, the Ojai Festival began the practice of having the Artistic Director engage a different Music Director for the Festival; each year and around whom that year's Festival is built. Only four individuals have served as Artistic Director:


 * Lawrence Morton (1954-1987)
 * Ara Guzelimian (1992-1997)
 * Ernest Fleischmann (1998-2003)
 * Thomas W. Morris (2004-present)

Whereas Fleischmann tended to organize each year's festival according to themes, Morris has eschewed this concept. As David Mermelstein reported: "I'm not a big believer in too much dramaturgy," Morris says. "The idea of building programs or festivals around some kind of specific theme, I find not a compelling idea in general. You find some pieces that fit the theme well, and then you have to find something to round it out, and that can lead to some less good pieces being performed. There should be some rhyme or reason to programming, but it shouldn't be too restricted in its thinking."

Orchestras and ensembles
Since 1970, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has been a very frequent participant in the festival. Other notable resident orchestras have included the Lyon Opera Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and Atlanta Symphony.

Many chamber groups and other ensembles have also been resident at the festival, including: the Kronos Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet, the Sequoia Quartet, and Toimii. In addition, groups representing other musical genres have also participated in the festival; these include: jazz, mariachi, Balinese music, and West African drum music ensembles.