2026 OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL -SUNDAY

“The Ojai Music Festival has been raising a finely calibrated ruckus each spring since 1947.”
– Alex Ross, The New Yorker

I have been attending the Ojai Festival since 2009, and it's always a highlight of every year. Come on out for the 4 days, for one day, or one concert. I suggest you look for lodging ASAP, as it will become scarce and expensive the closer you get to the date. I book my AirBnB a year in advance.

Date: Sunday, June 14, 8am to 7 pm

Venue: Libbey Bowl, Libbey Park
210 S. Signal St. Ojai, CA 93023
and other venues TBA

TIckets: https://ojaifestival.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/events/a0SU1000004Tp85MAC
I am getting the lawn tickets for the entire festival

Note: I am not leading any "event". I will be there for the entire festival. If you attend any of the events, send me a message via Meetup and let's get together. I sit on the lawn behind the seating section.

PROGRAM:

Morning Meditation – FREE
Chaparral Auditorium
SUN 06.14.26 8AM
Music of Saariaho, Ravel, and more
Performers
Geneva Lewis, violin | Jay Campbell, cello
Olivier MESSIAEN Abyss of the Birds (from Quartet for the End of Time)
Jessie MONTGOMERY Peace
Niccolò  CASTIGLIONI Dulce refrigerium
An Attacca Quartet playlist:
Bryce DESSNER Circles
Michael IPPOLITO Smoke Rings
RADIOHEAD Pyramid Song (arr. Amy Schroeder)
Shye BEN TZUR | Jonny GREENWOOD | RAJASTHAN EXPRESS Junun (arr. by Nathan Schram)
John ADAMS Iron Jig (world premiere)

Morning Concert
Libbey Bowl
SUN 06.14.26 10:30AM
Performers
Anthony McGill, clarinet | Hanzhi Wang, accordion | Conor Hanick, piano | Attacca Quartet

Family Concert – FREE
Libbey Park
SUN 06.14.26 12PM
Performers
To be announced
A family-friendly concert for the young and young at heart.

Ojai Films
Ojai Playhouse
SUN June 14 | 1:00PM
A film selected by Esa-Pekka Salonen, selection to be announced.
TICKETS NOT YET AVAILABLE

Beyond the Bowl
Greenberg Center, Ojai Valley School
SUN 06.14.26 2:30PM
Performers
Jonathan Hepfer, percussion | Aron Kallay, celesta | Todd Moellenberg, piano
Alvin LUCIER Nothing is Real
Vinko GLOBOKAR Toucher
Karlheinz STOCKHAUSEN Refrain
Brian FERNEYHOUGH Bone Alphabet
Morton FELDMAN King of Denmark
This concert is first offered as a benefit to our Partner Circle of donors. Learn more here.

Finale Concert
Libbey Bowl
SUN 06.14.26 5:30PM
Performers
Leila Josefowicz, violin | Bridget Esler, soprano | Eric Finbarr Carey, tenor | Abdiel Gonzalez, baritone | Colburn Orchestra | Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Esa-Pekka SALONEN FOG
György LIGETI Violin Concerto
Igor STRAVINSKY Pulcinella (complete ballet)

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CONDUCTOR
Salonen is renowned as both a composer and conductor. He was recently named Creative Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, effective 2026–27, and Creativity and Innovation Chair of the Philharmonie de Paris and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris, effective 2027–28. He is the Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and formerly served as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. He is a faculty member at Los Angeles’s Colburn School, where he founded and directs the Negaunee Conducting Program. Salonen co-founded, and until 2018 served as the Artistic Director of, the annual Baltic Sea Festival.

Festival History: https://www.ojaifestival.org
For seven decades, the Ojai Music Festival has been a laboratory for the special chemistry that results from combining insatiable curiosity with unbounded creativity. The formula is simple: Each year a music director is given the freedom and resources to imagine four days of musical brainstorming. Some have approached their task with caution, fearing that Ojai might be like other places. But, of course, it’s not. More often this unique blend of enchanted setting and an audience voracious in its appetite for challenge and discovery has inspired a distinguished series of conductors, performers, composers to push at boundaries and stretch limits.