2023 Music Director Rhiannon Giddens and Festival Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian Announce the 77th Ojai Music Festival: June 8 to 11, 2023
Community Offerings
An integral part of the immersive Ojai Festival experience are the free community activities that occur in the Libbey Park and throughout Ojai. This will include Morning Meditations, Music Pop-Ups, and a Family Concert.
Beyond Ojai: Online Offerings
The Ojai Music Festival lives beyond the flagship four-day festival in June, allowing further engagement with audiences worldwide. These include the Festival’s state-of-the-art live streaming and archived library of concerts; Virtual Ojai Talks with featured Festival artists and alum leading up to the Festival; and OjaiCast, the podcast series that provides insights on upcoming programming. The Festival’s digital projects are available at OjaiFestival.org.
New this year is Ojai on the Air with WQXR/New Sounds with host John Schaefer. The series of programs connects audiences and artists who engage deeply with adventurous new music. The first program, which debuted in October and is archived and available on WQXR, featured discipline colliding collective AMOC, Ojai’s 2022 Music Director. Ojai on the Air will announce additional ongoing programs leading up to and during the 2023 Festival with Music Director Rhiannon Giddens.
Series Passes for 2023 Ojai Music Festival
2023 series passes are available and may be purchased online at OjaiFestival.org or by calling (805) 646-2053. Festival series passes range from $205 to $965 for reserved seating. Lawn seating series passes start at $80. Single tickets will go on sale in the spring.
Friday, June 9
10:00am | VIS-À-VIS
Libbey Bowl
Gloria Cheng piano | Emi Ferguson flute | Mario Gotoh viola | Leonard Hayes piano | Karen Ouzounian cello Joshua Rubin clarinet | Steven Schick percussion | Michi Wiancko violin | Wu Man pipa
Shawn OKPEBHOLO mi sueño: afro-flamenco
Tyson Gholston DAVIS American Tableau (Tableau XI)
Margaret BONDS Troubled Water (Wade in the Water)
Michael ABELS Iconoclasm
Jessie MONTGOMERY Rhapsody No. 2
Nasim KHORASSANI Growth
Nina BARZEGAR Inexorable Passage
Lei LIANG vis-à-vis
8:00pm | AN EVENING WITH RHIANNON GIDDENS AND FRANCESCO TURRISI
Libbey Bowl
An intimate concert with Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi with music ranging from the Baroque to Appalachian ballads and traditional Black American songs.
Saturday, June 10
10:00am | THE WILLOWS ARE NEW
Libbey Bowl
Gloria Cheng piano | Kayhan Kalhor kamancheh | Karen Ouzounian cello | Nathan Schram viola | Wu Man pipa
Niloufar NOURBAKHSH Veiled
Lei LIANG Mother’s Songs
GE Gan-Ru Gong (from Gu Yue)
CHOU Wen-Chung The Willows are New
Kayhan KALHOR Solo Improvisation
8:00pm | OMAR’S JOURNEY
Libbey Bowl
Limmie Pulliam tenor (Omar) | Rhiannon Giddens soprano (Julie) | Cheryse McLeod Lewis mezzo-soprano (Fatima) | Michael Preacely bass-baritone (Abdul/Abe) | Andy Papas bass-baritone (Owen/Johnson)
Emi Ferguson flute | Joshua Rubin clarinet | Mazz Swift, Michi Wiancko violins | Mario Gotoh viola
Karen Ouzounian cello | Shawn Conley bass | Leonard Hayes piano | Ross Karre, Francesco Turrisi percussion Justin Robinson fiddle | Seckou Keita kora
Music from Senegal and the Carolinas
Music by Rhiannon GIDDENS and Michael ABELS Omar’s Journey World Premiere
Libretto by Rhiannon Giddens
An Ojai-commissioned work for voices and chamber ensemble drawn from the opera Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, framed by traditional music that traces the journey of the real-life Omar Ibn Said from Senegal to the Carolinas.
Sunday, June 11
10:00am | EARLY MUSIC
Libbey Bowl
Francesco Turrisi curator and keyboards
Attacca Quartet | Rhiannon Giddens vocals | Kayhan Kalhor kamancheh | Karen Ouzounian cello |
Wu Man pipa | Joshua Stauffer theorbo
This concert challenges the idea of late Renaissance and early Baroque music and reinterprets it as a universal language that can connect the 17th century to today through an imagined historical and geographical journey.
5:30pm | STRINGS ATTACHED
Libbey Bowl
Amy Schroeder violin | Kayhan Kalhor kamancheh | Seckou Keita kora | Rhiannon Giddens vocals/multi-instrumentalist Wu Man pipa | Francesco Turrisi multi-instrumentalist | Mazz Swift, Michi Wiancko violins | Mario Gotoh viola |Karen Ouzounian cello | Shawn Conley bass | Joshua Stauffer theorbo
A musical summit of Festival artists and a jam session featuring solos and collaborations bringing together bowed and plucked string instruments from the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. An exuberant finale celebrating the many musical stories featured at this year’s Festival!