The Ojai Music Festival represents an ideal of adventurous, open-minded and open-hearted programming in the most beautiful and welcoming of settings, with audiences and artists to match its aspirations. Founded in 1947, the Festival remains a hallmark for groundbreaking musical experiences with a narrative thread guided by a different music director. These annual directors are more than conductors, composers, soloists, or musicians. They are musical thinkers who approach their craft with creativity and responsibility to the present day.

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 

Schedule

THU 06|05

3:00PM OJAI TALKS

Ojai Presbyterian Church

Part I Music Director Claire Chase with Ara Guzelimian

Part II 2025 Composers and Artists with John Schaefer

Automatically included in 4-Day Libbey Bowl Passes, available for purchase as an add-on.

8:00PM PAN

Libbey Bowl

Claire Chase, flute | Wu Wei, sheng | M.A. Tiesenga, electronic hurdy-gurdy | Susie Ibarra and Steven Schick, percussion | Festival Artists

Marcos BALTER Alone

Annea LOCKWOOD bayou-borne

Marcos BALTER   Pan

A festive opening night with Annea Lockwood’s Bayou-Borne, an affectionate tribute to Pauline Oliveros, then culminating in Marcos Balter’s Pan, an already iconic work from Claire Chase’s epic Density 2036 project. Pan is a deeply affecting work that explores the life and death of the mythical Greek goat-god Pan, written for flute, electronics, and a community of musicians, telling the tale of this weaver of melodies and a guardian of the wilderness – true to the Ojai spirit! 

FRI 06|06

8:00AM OJAI DAWNS

Zalk Theater, Beasant Hill School

JACK Quartet

Liza LIM  Cardamom (US Premiere)

Eduardo AGUILAR   HYPER (West Coast premiere)

Tania LEÓN   Abanico

Vicente ATRIA   Roundabout (West Coast premiere)

Early morning program featuring JACK Quartet with works by Tania León, Liza Lim, and two exciting emerging composers, Vicente Atria and Eduardo Aguilar.

10:30AM PULSING LIFTERS

Libbey Bowl

Alex Peh, harpsichord & keyboard | Cory Smythe and Craig Taborn, piano & keyboards

Terry RILEY Pulsing Lifters (World premiere of new trio arrangement by Alex Peh)

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR   Impressions

John COLTRANE/Cory SMYTHE Countdowns

Craig TABORN + Cory SMYTHE Duo Improvisation for Ojai

A program of works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Cory Smythe, and Craig Taborn that celebrates the old made new in Thorvaldsdottir’s Impressions for harpsichord as well as a summit meeting between two dazzlingly inventive composer/pianists whose worlds encompass jazz, new music, and beyond.

1:00PM OJAI FILMS

Ojai Playhouse

32 Sounds Film by Sam Green

In collaboration with the Ojai Playhouse

3:30PM OJAI AFTERNOONS

Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School

Claire Chase, flute | Levy Lorenzo, electronics | Nicholas Houfek, lighting

Liza LIM Sex Magic (West Coast premiere)

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.

8:00PM THE HOLY LIFTOFF

Libbey Bowl

Leilehua Lanzilotti, viola | Jay Campbell, Katinka Kleijn, Seth Parker Woods, cello | Claire Chase, flute | JACK Quartet | USC Cello Ensemble | Steven Schick, conductor

Leilehua LANZILOTTI   ko’u inoa

Sofia GUBAIDULINA Mirage: The Dancing Sun

Julius EASTMAN   The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc

Terry RILEY   The Holy Liftoff  (Realization by Samuel Clay Birmaher)

Music for a “chorus of cellos” by Julius Eastman precede The Holy Liftoff, the most recent work by pioneering American composer Terry Riley, played in Ojai by Claire Chase and the JACK Quartet. Written as a series of musical sketches and brilliantly colored drawings, an exuberant and energized work represents a culmination for Riley, who says “I feel like this piece sums up a lot of things I’ve worked for.”

SAT 06|07

8:00AM MORNING MEDITATION

Ojai Meadows Preserve

Claire Chase and Michael Matsuno, flute | M.A. Tiesenga, saxophone| Joshua Rubin, clarinet | Susie Ibarra, percussion

Susie IBARRA   Sunbird (West Coast premiere)

Susie IBARRA  Kolubrí

Pauline OLIVEROS   Horse Sings From Cloud

Special thanks to the City of Ojai Arts Commission for supporting this event

Free and open to the public

10:30AM CHAMBERS

Libbey Bowl

Claire Chase, flute | Katinka Kleijn, Seth Parker Woods, cello | Cory Smythe, piano | JACK Quartet

Marcos BALTER  Chambers

Leilehua LANZILOTTI  ahupua’a

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR  Ubique (West Coast premiere)

A program centered on the West Coast premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Ubique for flute, two cellos, piano and electronics, a work of enigmatic lyricism by a composer who is inspired by the “musical qualities of nature.”

1:00PM OJAI FILMS

Ojai Playhouse

Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros Film by Daniel Weintraub

In collaboration with the Ojai Playhouse

2:00-5:00PM HOUSATONIC

Move Sanctuary

Annea LOCKWOOD  Housatonic Sound installation

Annea Lockwood’s sound map of the Housatonic River, captured as a four-channel sound installation. Complete cycles of the work begin at 2pm and 3:30pm. Casual drop-ins welcome at any time.

Free and open to the public

3:30PM OJAI AFTERNOONS

Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School

Claire Chase, flute | Joshua Rubin, clarinet | Craig Taborn, piano | Susie Ibarra, percussion | Levy Lorenzo, electronics

Craig TABORN   Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms

A concert centered on the West Coast premiere of Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano and electronics by the endlessly inventive composer-pianist Craig Taborn. The work is inspired by a dream in which plants awake, blossom, grow and change as the dreamer walks through a garden.

8:00PM HOW FORESTS THINK

Libbey Bowl

Wu Wei, sheng | Kathryn Schulmeister, bass | Joshua Rubin, clarinet | Claire Chase, flute | Alex Peh, piano | JACK Quartet | Festival Artists | Steven Schick, conductor

JS BACH Chorale Prelude, Vor deinen Thron, BWV 668

Sofia GUBAIDULINA Meditation on the Bach chorale Vor deinen Thron, BWV 668

Tania LEÓN Hechizos

Liza LIM How Forests Think

Music by Bach, Sofia Gubaidulina (inspired by Bach) and Tania León, precede the West Coast premiere of the large-scale How Forests Think by Liza Lim, a work inspired by the imagery of ancient forests as vibrant, symbiotic communities that, as the composer writes, “that 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.

10:30PM OJAI LATE NIGHT

Ojai Playhouse

Liza Lim | Steven Schick | Leilehua Lanzilotti; speaker TBA | Annea Lockwood, sound diffusion

Annea LOCKWOOD  Spirit Catchers

In collaboration with the Ojai Playhouse

SUN 06|08

8:00AM MORNING MEDITATION

Chaparral Auditorium

Seth Parker Woods, cello | Ross Karre, percussion | Leilehua Lanzilotti, viola

Leilehua LANZILOTTI   the embryology of the heart (excerpt)

Bahar ROYAEE   New work for solo percussion (World premiere)

Anna THORVALDSDOTTIR   Sola

Free and open to the public

10:30AM RITUALS

Libbey Bowl

Wu Wei, sheng | Alex Peh, piano | Claire Chase, flute | Susie Ibarra and Levy Lorenzo, percussion | JACK Quartet

Modern Medieval (arr. Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman)

Susie IBARRA  New work for sheng and percussion (World premiere)

Tania LEÓN   Ritual

Susie IBARRA Sky Islands (West Coast premiere)

The JACK Quartet explores Modern/Medieval with music from the 14th to 17th centuries, renewed for contemporary performance by composers/JACK violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman. The program is followed by the West Coast premiere of Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands, evoking a unique environment of the elevated rain forests in the Philippines with the interlocking rhythms and melodies of Philippine Northern-style bamboo, gong, and flute music, performed on new sound sculptures of gong metals.

12:00PM FAMILY CONCERT

Libbey Park Gazebo

1:00PM OJAI FILMS

Ojai Playhouse

32 Sounds Film by Sam Green

In collaboration with the Ojai Playhouse

2:00-5:00PM HOUSATONIC

Move Sanctuary

Annea LOCKWOOD  Housatonic Sound installation

Annea Lockwood’s sound map of the Housatonic River, captured as a four-channel sound installation. Complete cycles of the work begin at 2pm and 3:30pm. Casual drop-ins welcome at any time.

Free and open to the public

2:30PM OJAI AFTERNOONS (repeat performance)

Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School

Claire Chase, flute | Joshua Rubin, clarinet | Craig Taborn, piano | Susie Ibarra, percussion | Levy Lorenzo, electronics

Craig TABORN   Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms

A concert centered on the West Coast premiere of Busy Griefs and Endangered Charms for flute, clarinet, cello, piano, and electronics by the endlessly inventive composer-pianist Craig Taborn. The work is inspired by a dream in which plants awake, blossom, grow, and change as the dreamer walks through a garden.

5:30PM PULSEFIELD

Libbey Bowl

Claire Chase, flute | Festival Artists | Steven Schick, conductor

Leilehua LANZILOTTI  ko’u inoa

Pauline OLIVEROS  The Witness

Tania LEÓN   Singsong (World premiere of solo version)

Terry RILEY   Pulsefield 3 (World premiere)

An exuberant all-company 2025 Festival finale 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 a joyous celebration of the composer’s 90th birthday.

Buy Tickets

Festival Date and Time:  June 5 to 8, 2025

Location: Various locations in Ojai, CA

Click here for more information