For Immediate Release

PRESS CONTACTS:

Regional: Gina Gutierrez, 805 646-2094 x104 ggutierrez@ojaifestival.org

National/Int’l: Shuman Associates, Inc., 212 315-1300 aduryea@shumanassociates.net

2008 OJAI FESTIVAL MUSIC DIRECTOR DAVID ROBERTSONAND OJAI ARTISTIC DIRECTOR THOMAS W. MORRIS ANNOUNCE

COMPLETE PROGRAMS FOR OJAI’S 62nd SEASON JUNE 5 TO 8, 2008

The Festival theme is “The Intersection of Words and Music,” from text as conveyor of music to text as actual sound material - in works ranging from Pergolesi to Steve Reich

and Michael Jarrell to Charlie Chaplin

Featured artists include soprano Dawn Upshaw, composer Steve Reich, actress Barbara Sukowa, contemporary ensembles Signal and So Percussion, Nexus,

Conductor Brad Lubman, and the Ojai Festival Orchestra

February 22, 2008 – Ojai, California…Following their preliminary announcement on November 8, 2007, Thomas W. Morris, Artistic Director of the Ojai Music Festival and David Robertson, Ojai’s 2008 Music Director today announced the final schedule for the 62nd Ojai Music Festival, which takes place from June 5 to 8, 2008. The 2008 Festival continues the Ojai tradition of presenting thought-provoking and provocative music by composers and artists who are drawn to this mecca of artistic expression.

David Robertson, who is known for his consummate musicianship, dynamic presence and imaginative programming, said “I always enjoyed putting together programs with Tom Morris when he was in Cleveland. It felt like letting two enthusiastic kids off the leash in a candy store to program the 2008 Ojai Festival together. The Festival contains some of the most exciting and entertaining music from recent years – much of which has not been heard on the West Coast before. I am particularly delighted by the participation of Dawn Upshaw and Steve Reich, which makes these four days a dream come true.”

This year’s Festival debuts are by award-winning German actress Barbara Sukowa, pianist Eric Huebner, and the musicians of the new music ensembles Signal founded and

conducted by Brad Lubman, and So Percussion. Ojai welcomes back soprano Dawn Upshaw, composer Steve Reich, Nexus, and Brad Lubman.

The 2008 Ojai Music Festival opens on Thursday, June 5, at the Libbey Bowl with a program of four works by Steve Reich, who will be in residence for the entire Festival. A new composition, Daniel Variations, which employs texts from the biblical book of Daniel and the words of the late American-Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl, will be performed, along with Eight Lines, Nagoya Marimbas, and Mr. Reich’s seminal minimalist work, Four Organs, played at Ojai 35 years ago during Mr. Reich’s last visit.

On Sunday morning, Ojai presents a program of groundbreaking compositions that include two of Gyorgy Ligeti’s Etudes, which are considered among the greatest contemporary works for piano; Ionisation by Varese (conducted by David Robertson and featuring an orchestra of 37 percussion instruments), which is among the first Western works for percussion alone; and Steve Reich’s Drumming, his epic work that merges African and European elements. Joining Nexus and So Percussion in Drumming will be Steve Reich himself.

Closing the 2008 Festival, Mr. Robertson conducts the Ojai Festival Orchestra in Mr. Reich’s Tehillim, set to Jewish scripture in a concert that also includes a performance of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, featuring Dawn Upshaw and mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey. Ms. Upshaw, who last performed at Ojai in 2006, will also sing a recital of works by Schumann, Messiaen, Debussy, Foster, Seeger and others.

Two concerts with Mr. Robertson and the Ojai Festival Orchestra crisscross genres and utilize provocative combinations of music and technology. On June 6 the Orchestra will accompany Charlie Chaplin’s film Modern Times, performing the original score composed by Chaplin himself for the film. The program also includes George Antheil’s A Jazz Symphony and the U.S. premiere of François Narboni’s El Gran Masturbador. On Saturday, June 7, Philippe Manoury’s En écho for soprano and electronics is performed with the West Coast premiere of Michael Jarrell’s Cassandre, a spoken opera featuring actress Barbara Sukowa and a chamber orchestra of acoustical and electronic instruments.

This year’s Festival Symposium is scheduled in three parts and will once again take place at Ojai Presbyterian Church. The first session features Alex Ross, music critic of New Yorker magazine and the author of the book, The Rest is Noise, which has captured the attention of musicians, music enthusiasts, and non-musicians alike. The second is a conversation between Ara Guzelimian, Dean of the Juilliard School and former Artistic Director of the Ojai Festival, and David Robertson, and the third session will be a conversation between Mr. Guzelimian and Steve Reich.

The 2008 Ojai Music Festival will present three free bonus events celebrating the 100th birthdays of two pioneering composers: Elliott Carter and Olivier Messiaen. The first event,

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“Celebrating Elliott Carter,” is a recital program of Carter’s 90+, Cello Sonata, and Night Fantasies featuring pianist Eric Heubner and cellist Erika Duke at the Ojai Art Center followed by “A Labyrinth of Time,” a filmed portrait of Elliott Carter by documentary filmmaker Frank Scheffer, which will be shown at the Ojai Playhouse. In the final bonus event, at the Ojai Arts Center, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time will be performed by a quartet of musicians—violinist Frank Almond, cellist Andrew Shulman, clarinetist Todd Levy, and pianist Gloria Cheng.

“David Robertson has unleashed his insatiable curiosity for a Festival that is in the true tradition of Ojai,” said Mr. Morris. “This is a Festival that, we believe, will stir the imagination and expand musical horizons.”

2008 Ojai Music Festival Programs

Thursday, June 5, 2008

*8:00 p.m. Libbey Bowl The 62nd Ojai Music Festival opens with an all-Steve Reich program featuring Signal and Brad Lubman, purveyors of Mr. Reich’s music, in a program that opens with Eight Lines and also includes Daniel Variations, Nagoya Marimbas, and Four Organs, which was performed at Ojai 35 years ago.

.Friday, June 6, 2008

10:30 to Presbyterian Church – Symposium-Session I11:30 a.m. ”The Rest is Noise” with Alex Ross

1:00 to. Presbyterian Church – Symposium-Session II2:15 p.m. A conversation between with David Robertson and Ara Guzelimian

2:15 to Presbyterian Church – Symposium-Session III3:30 p.m. A conversation between Steve Reich and Ara Guzelimian

*8:00 p.m. Libbey Bowl George Antheil’s A Jazz Symphony, the U.S. premiere of François Narboni’s El Gran Masturbador, and Charlie Chaplin’s silent film Modern Times—viewed on a large video screen—with accompaniment of the original Chaplin score by the Ojai Festival Orchestra conducted by David Robertson.

Saturday, June 7, 2008*11 a.m. Libbey Bowl

Dawn Upshaw returns to the Ojai Music Festival with a recital of music by Foster, Seeger, Ives, Fauré, Debussy, Messiaen, Schumann, Wolf, Berg, Weill, and

Bolcom. She will be accompanied by pianist, Gilbert Kalish.

3:00 p.m. Ojai Art Center – FREE BONUS EVENTIn the first of two events celebrating the 100th birthday of the renowned

American composer Elliott Carter, three of his compositions—90+, Cello Sonata, and Night Fantasies—are performed by pianist Eric Heubner and cellist Erika Duke.

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4:30 p.m. Ojai Playhouse – A Labyrinth of Time – FREE BONUS EVENT In the second Elliott Carter event, the Ojai Music Festival presents Dutch director Frank Scheffer’s documentary portrait of Elliott Carter— A Labyrinth of Time—

which explores the composer’s fascination with the perception andtransformation of time and includes interviews with Mr. Carter,

Daniel Barenboim, and Charles Rosen.

*8:00 p.m. Libbey Bowl Called “a succulent extravaganza“ by The Independent, Philippe Manoury’s En écho, which combines the solo voice of soprano Juliana Snapper with computer generated sounds provided by Miller Puckette, is set to seven poems written by Emmanuel Hocquart in collaboration with Manoury, centered on the recollections and erotic longing of Nabokov's Lolita. En écho will be performed with the West Coast premiere of Michael Jarrell’s Cassandre, a “spoken opera” based on the figure from Greek mythology, utilizing acoustical and electronic instruments featuring actress Barbara Sukowa and the Ojai Festival Orchestra conducted by David Robertson.

11 p.m. Ojai Art Center – FREE BONUS EVENTIn celebration of the 100th birthday of Olivier Messiaen, violinist Frank Almond,

cellist Andrew Shulman, clarinetist Todd Levy, and pianist Gloria Cheng perform Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, which he wrote while a prisoner in a German POW camp during World War II for himself and clarinetist Henri Akoka, a Moroccan Jew (though his religion was kept secret), violinist Jean Le Boulaire, and cellist Étienne Pasquier, who were imprisoned with Messiaen.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

*11 a.m. Libbey BowlA program of groundbreaking works by Gyorgy Ligeti; Edgard Varese (in celebration of his 125th birthday); and Steve Reich, performed by pianist Eric Huebner, the NEXUS percussion ensemble, So Percussion, Steve Reich, and members of Signal. It opens with Mr. Huebner playing two of Ligeti’s 18 Etudes, Etude No. I “Désordre” and Etude VI “Automne à Varsovie.” The Etudes are considered among the greatest contemporary works for the piano. They are followed by Edgard Varese’s Ionisation conducted by David Robertson, among the first Western works for percussion alone; and Drumming, Steve Reich’s hour-long tour-de-force, inspired by Reich’s trip to Ghana to study music.

*5:30 p.m. Libbey BowlConcluding the 2008 Ojai Music Festival, David Robertson leads the Ojai Festival Orchestra in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, considered one of classical music’s masterpieces featuring Dawn Upshaw and mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, and Steve Reich’s Tehillim, the Hebrew word for “psalms,” set to Jewish scripture, in which the rhythm of the music comes directly from the rhythm of the texts.

*Musicologist Christopher Hailey will provide insight into each of the starred concerts one hour prior to those performances.

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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 (304 North Foothill Road), the Ojai Arts Center (113 South Montgomery Street), and the Ojai Playhouse (145 East Ojai Avenue).

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. All 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 engages a different music director each year, around whose musical ideas that year’s Festival is built. Thomas W. Morris, the Festival’s current Artistic Director, began his tenure at Ojai in 2004. Among the Festival’s diverse music directors have been such renowned musical personalities as John Adams, Emanuel Ax, Pierre Boulez, Aaron Copland, Ingolf Dahl, Peter Maxwell Davies, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, Oliver Knussen, Kent Nagano, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mitsuko Uchida, Robert Spano, and in 2007, Pierre-Laurent Aimard. The Ojai Music Festival is located in California’s Ojai Valley, 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

David Robertson, Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony and principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 2005, is one of today’s most sought-after conductors, combining passion and intellect with an extensive knowledge of orchestral and opera repertoire. Praised both for his technical and interpretive mastery and for his versatility, Mr. Robertson is a recognized expert in 20th- and 21st-century music, having worked with Pierre Boulez as music director of the Ensemble InterContemporain from 1992-2000. Mr. Robertson has conducted orchestras throughout Europe and North America, and with a repertoire of some 45 operas, he has conducted productions from the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera to La Scala, the Théâtre du Châtelet, and the Bayerische Staatsoper. Mr. Robertson was born in Santa Monica, California, and educated at London’s Royal Academy of Music. He has recorded works by Adams, Bartók, Boulez, Carter, Dusapin, Ginastera, Lalo, Milhaud, Reich, Saint-Saens, and Silvestrov on labels that include Sony Classical, Naïve, EMI/Virgin Classics, and Naxos, among others. Musical America’s 2000 Conductor of the Year, Mr. Robertson has also been honored with Columbia University’s 2006 Ditson Conductor’s Award; the ASOL’s Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming with the Saint Louis Symphony; the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award, and most recently was given an honorary doctorate from Maryville University.

Dawn Upshaw returns to Ojai after her acclaimed performances in the 2006 Festival. One of the most recent recipients of the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” Ms. Upshaw has

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been described by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the most consequential performers of our time.” With a natural warmth and a fierce commitment to the transforming power of music, Ms. Upshaw has achieved worldwide fame as a singer of opera and concert repertoire ranging from the sacred works of Bach to the freshest sounds of today. A four-time Grammy Award winner, Ms. Upshaw is featured on more than 50 recordings, including Gorecki’s million-selling Symphony No. 3, which first brought her to the attention of the public. Ms. Upshaw has made over 300 appearances at the Metropolitan Opera, and in the past decade alone she has premiered more than 25 new works, including several created for her, such as operas L’Amour de Loin by Kaija Saariaho and The Great Gatsby by John Harbison; the nativity oratorio El Niño by John Adams; as well as Golijov’s chamber opera Ainadamar and song cycle Ayre. Her most recent release on DG is Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra recorded with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Upshaw holds honorary doctorate degrees from Yale University, the Manhattan School of Music, Allegheny College, and Illinois Wesleyan University.

American composer Steve Reich, an early pioneer in tape music and American minimalism, has established himself as one of the foremost composers of our time. He has been described by The Guardian as one of the few composers who have “"altered the direction of musical history" and by The New York Times as “our greatest living composer.” In 2006 performing organizations around the world marked Steve Reich's 70th- birthday year with festivals and special concerts. In the composer's hometown of New York, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center joined forces to present complementary programs of his music; and in London, the Barbican mounted a major retrospective. That same year Nonesuch Records released its second box set of Steve Reich’s works, Phases: A Nonesuch Retrospective, a five-CD collection of 14 of the composer’s best-known pieces, spanning his 20 years on the label. His music has been performed by countless orchestras and ensembles worldwide, and noted choreographers have created dances to his music. He has received commissions from diverse institutions and individuals ranging from the Barbican Centre London and the Spoleto Festival USA to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for guitarist Pat Metheny and the Festival d'Automne, Paris, for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. His awards and honors are innumerable and include his being named Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et Lettres and the 2000 Composer of the Year by Musical America.

For the past two decades Brad Lubman, the versatile American conductor/composer and associate professor of conducting and ensembles at Eastman School of Music, has played an important role in contemporary music, having worked with some of today’s most illustrious musical figures, such as John Adams, Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Steve Reich, Elvis Costello, Michael Tilson Thomas, Charles Wuorinen, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, and was assistant conductor to Oliver Knussen’s at the Tanglewood Music Center from 1989 to 1994. He has guest conducted major orchestras in Europe and the U.S., as well as some of today’s most important contemporary music ensembles, such as the Ensemble Modern Frankfurt and Steve Reich and Musicians. This year he debuts with the Dresden Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, WDR Orchestra Cologne, Chicago Symphony MusicNOW, and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Lubman’s compositions have been performed here and abroad, and his first portrait CD, Insomniac, was recently released by John Zorn’s label Tzadik. Mr. Lubman holds degrees in percussion from SUNY Purchase and SUNY Stony Brook.

Signal is a large all-star ensemble of today’s most innovative young musicians and multimedia artists, with whom Brad Lubman has worked over the past decade. Based in New York, the ensemble was founded and hand-picked by Mr. Lubman and includes members of So Percussion, working in collaboration with Boom Design Group, a team of virtuoso visual artists and multi-media designers who produce improvised and interactive video installations. Signal

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made its debut in Buffalo in June 2007 and was praised by Steve Reich who called Signal a major addition to international musical life. “We need more ensembles to fill this large and growing demand for new and live music of our time,” he said, and added, “I sincerely believe that Signal is precisely what we need in our musical life today.”

German actress Barbara Sukowa, well known for her stage and film work, is also a classical musician, narrator and speaker. Following her 1971 stage debut in Berlin in Peter Handke's Der Ritt über den Bodensee, she was invited to join the ensemble of the Darmstadt National Theatre and was featured in many of its productions. She also collaborated in Frankfurt and Hamburg with such directors as Luc Bondy and Ivan Nagel. Her film work for New German Cinema earned her numerous awards, including the German gold film award for the title role in Fassbinder’s Lola, the Venice Festival’s best actress award for her performance in Margarethe von Trotta’s Die bleierne Zeit, and best actress honors at Cannes for her work in von Trotta’s Rosa Luxemburg. Among her classical music appearances, Ms. Sukowa has performed Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire widely in major European capitals as well as in Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles. With Claudio Abbado, she has performed the speakers role in Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with both the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics. Other engagements have included Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher, Weill’s Threepenny Opera, as well as the U.S. premiere of Jarrell’s Cassandre with the Saint Louis Symphony and David Robertson in St. Louis and in New York.

So Percussion— Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Lawson White—was formed in New Haven, CT in 1999. With performances that have taken them from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to the Bang on a Can Marathon, the BAM Next Wave Festival, and the Kitchen, the group is considered one of the most exciting young ensembles in the country. Its ongoing commissioning program has produced many new works from such notables as David Lang and Paul Lansky to emerging talents Cenk Ergun, Dennis De Santis, and Suzanne Farrin, and the group has been recognized with the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Adventurous Programming award for these efforts. According to So, their audience comprises “both kinds of blue hair”—from elderly matron to arty punk. Their newest CD/DVD is entitled Amid the Noise

The first, entirely improvised NEXUS concert in 1971 marked the formation of the NEXUS Percussion Ensemble. Virtuoso percussionists Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Robin Engelman, Russell Hartenberger and Garry Kvistad bring elements of their knowledge and character to a distinct and powerful whole. They stand out in the contemporary music scene for the innovation and diversity of their programs, their impressive history of collaborations and commissions, their revival of 1920's novelty ragtime xylophone music, and their influential improvisatory ideas. In fact, they were called upon to create the Oscar-winning score for the 1975 film “The Man Who Skied Down Everest.” NEXUS' firm commitment to music education and a steady output of quality CD recordings and compositions by its members continues to enhance the role of percussion in the 21st century. NEXUS has performed on five continents and was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1999, just before their 30th anniversary season. NEXUS has premiered percussion works by such composers Christos Hatzis, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and Toru Takemitsu, and recently, the U.S. premiere of John Cage’s Dance Music for Elfrid Ide (1940) at Bard College. Since their appearance at last year’s Ojai Music Festival, they have released two new CDs—out of the blue and Wings.

Los Angeles native Eric Huebner launched his career at age 17 as a piano soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Los Angeles Music Center and Hollywood Bowl and has since appeared as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Germany, Japan and Brazil. Well known for his performances of new and traditional music, Mr. Huebner

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has been a member of Antares since 2001 and in New York has appeared with several new music ensembles, such as Speculum Musicae, Ensemble Sospeso, Washington Square Chamber Players, Continuum, New York New Music Ensemble, and Flexible Music. He has been a frequent performer in the Museum of Modern Art’s Summergarden Series and other series in New York City, Darmstadt, Buffalo, and Los Angeles. He has recorded on the Col Legno, Centaur, Bridge and Innova labels, and his performances have been nationally broadcast on PBS-TV and BBC radio.

Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, a recent graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development program, returned to the Met this season to sing in Romeo et Juliette, Manon Lescaut, and as Cherubino in Le Nozze de Figaro. She was also featured in the new children’s English version of The Magic Flute, seen in movie theaters globally. This season Ms. Lindsey also made her debut with the Boston Symphony conducted by James Levine and with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Met Chamber Ensemble, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Washington East Opera. The Richmond, Virginia, native has received a 2007 Richard F. Gold Career Grant, the 2007 George London Award, and was the first place winner of the 2005 Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Competition

Ara Guzelimian, dean of The Juilliard School, is the former senior director and artistic advisor to Carnegie Hall and artistic director from 1992 to 1997 of the Ojai Music Festival, where he worked closely with Festival music directors Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Kent Nagano, Michael Tilson Thomas and Emanuel Ax. Mr. Guzelimian also served as artistic administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and was associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 15 years as producer of the orchestra’s national radio broadcasts and as artistic administrator. He has been active as a radio producer and has written for numerous publications. Mr. Guzelimian was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.

Alex Ross, music critic of The New Yorker since 1996 and music writer for The New York Times from 1992 to 1996, is the author of The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, a cultural history of music since 1900, which was published in October 2007 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. A national bestseller, The Rest Is Noise has been nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award and was chosen as one of the best books of 2007 by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York, Time, Newsweek, and The Economist. Mr. Ross’s widely read classical music blog at www.therestisnoise.com contains audio samples related to the book. The Manhattan-based writer has received two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for music criticism, fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin and the Banff Centre, and a Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center for contributions to the field of contemporary music.

Thomas W. Morris, recognized as one of the most creative leaders in the music industry, assumed the position of artistic director of the Ojai Music Festival in 2004. His tenure extends through 2011. As Artistic Director, Mr. Morris is responsible for identifying and engaging each year’s Festival music director and working together with each, to create Festival programming. In February 2004, Mr. Morris retired as executive director of The Cleveland Orchestra, a position he held since 1987. He served in a number of capacities, including general manager of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1985, where he had overall responsibility for the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Tanglewood, and Symphony Hall. In addition to his Ojai post, Mr. Morris is active as a consultant, teacher, and writer.

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Tickets and Information

Ojai Music Festival single tickets range from $35 to $75 for reserved seating; lawn seats are $20. (Reserved section tickets increase the week of Festival.) Series tickets are also available and range from $90 to $545 for a full series and $70 to $245 for a mini series. Ojai concerts take place at the Libbey Bowl on Ojai Avenue in downtown Ojai. 

Tickets for the Festival Symposium on June 6 at the Presbyterian Church are $30 in

advance or $35 the day of the event. The Presbyterian Church is located at 304 North Foothill Road.

The June 7 bonus events at 3:00 p.m. “Celebrating Elliott Carter,” and at 11 p.m. “Celebrating Olivier Messiaen” at the Ojai Art Center (113 South Montgomery Street), as well as the “A Labyrinth of Time” film at the Ojai Playhouse (145 East Ojai Avenue) are free, but reservations are required.

To purchase tickets, make reservations for the two free events, or for additional information,

call (805) 646-2094. Or visit www.OjaiFestival.org

(Please see complete calendar listing attached.)

Two Gastronomic Events

Hosted by the Ojai Festival Women’s Committee on Saturday, June 7 at 1:30 p.m. at Ojai’s famed Ranch House, the Legacy Lunch is a celebration of the Festival’s unmatched musical legacy and its longtime attendees. Past honorees have included former Board of Directors’ president Dr. Richard Gould of Ojai and Betty Izant, former administrator of the Festival. Reservations are required due to limited seating. Tickets are $40 per person.

On the closing day of the Festival, Sunday, June 8, at 1 p.m. the Lavender Inn, the elegant Bed and Breakfast at 210 East Matilija Street, will host a harvest luncheon presented by Slow Food Ojai featuring seasonal fruits and vegetables grown from local farms in a meal created by chef/bakers Jeri Oshima from Treasure Beach Café and Bobbi Corbin of Knead Bakery. Slow Food is a national “green” movement that is dedicated to supporting good, clean food produced in an environmentally sound way. The afternoon event also includes samplings from local farmers and specialty food creators, all for $45 per person.

Concierge Service

Ojai Music Festival provides a complimentary Festival concierge service for accommodations and assistance with other Ojai activities. The Festival also has special room rates for patrons at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa and other participating hotel partners including the new Chantico Inn and the Clocktower Inn in Ventura. The direct line to the Festival concierge is (805) 646-2094 ext. 110.

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Ojai Facts

The Ojai Valley is located within Ventura County, which is the southernmost county of California’s Central Coast region. A true east-west laying valley, Ojai boasts full sunlit days and full moonlit nights. The valley is ringed by both the Matilija and the Topa Topa Mountains. The valley floor is studded with both live and valley oaks as well as an abundance of citrus orchards and avocado groves. During the month of April, the valley air is perfumed with the scent of citrus blossoms.

Weather: Mediterranean climate. Excellent weather year round. Autumn and spring months are very pleasant. Competitive lodging prices are likely to be found in autumn and spring.

Lodging: Ojai offers a wide variety of charming accommodations, which include resorts, bed & breakfasts, motels, hotels, and vacation houses. Some examples include:

Ojai Valley Inn & Resort: five-star resort with championship golf course, spa services, luxurious rooms, and restaurants.

Emerald Inn & Blue Iguana Inn: charming suites called “hip and stylish” by Sunset Magazine

The Oaks: known for spa treatments and fitness activities.

Restaurants: providing memorable dining experiences with a combination of cuisine and architecture in a beautiful setting. Some fine examples include:

Suzanne’s Cuisine: fresh gourmet cuisine Auberge of Ojai: trademark progressive American/French fare

The Ranch House: lush atmosphere and award-winning food

Things-to-do:

Ojai Certified Farmer’s Market Meditation Mount Ventura County Potters Guild at Libbey Park Unspoiled hiking trails Bike routes Golf Gallery exhibits

Shop Between concerts:

Primavera Gallery: fine American jewelry, furniture and artwork HumanArts Home: American furniture art and crafts Rain’s Department Store: oldest family owned and operated store in Ojai Bart’s Books: outdoor book store

Gateway Airports - Los Angeles or Santa Barbara.

Main Highways – Highway 101 runs north to south through our region. Highway 33 runs from the 101 into the Ojai Valley. Highway 150 also connects to 101 south of Santa Barbara, joins

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with 33 in going into Ojai and continues east to connect with Highway 126, which then connects to Interstate 5.

Visitor Information on the Web: www.ojaichamber.org or www.visitojai.com

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