Ojai Music Festival: 80 Is the New… 80

There are always good reasons to head over to the Ojai Music Festival (OMF) come early June, for avowed fans of contemporary and modern music — modern as in, say, from Stravinsky’s 1913 Rite of Spring forward. More general-purpose, musically curious types are also welcome, especially on more populist programs such as the Rhiannon Giddens–directed 2023 fest.

But this year’s model, running from June 11 to 14, exerts an extra double-barreled magnetism. This year marks the festival’s milestone 80th birthday, along with the eagerly awaited return of the promethean Finn-in-America composer-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director, a deserved point of focus. 

Salonen seems to be a tailor-made Ojai hero, whose fierce commitment to musical adventurism and integrity led him to quit his San Francisco Symphony post last year, when the orchestra reportedly reneged on its commitment to support contemporary and new music. Twenty-plus years ago, Salonen threatened to leave his post with the L.A. Philharmonic — the orchestra he helped earn its stripes as one of the world’s greatest during his 18-year tenure there — if the daring Frank Gehry–designed Walt Disney Concert Hall wasn’t finally completed.

Both of his past OMF years — in 1999 and 2001 — have counted among the most sparkling programs in the festival’s recent history. “The tradition of the Ojai Music Festival is that there is no tradition other than that people can do things that they wouldn’t be able to do elsewhere. Ojai invites us to dream, and it’s a place where dreams can become reality,” said Salonen.

Among the realities planned are a healthy swath of his own music, a fascinating and expanding body of work that can sometimes, unfortunately, be overshadowed by his fame as a conductor. This includes the U.S. premiere of a new piece for violin and cello and the first complete performance of his “Six Preludes for piano” (featuring Music Academy of the West faculty pianist Conor Hanick). Other Salonen fodder here: “Arabesques for Olly,” “Homunculus,” “Lachen velernt,” and “Fog,” and Salonen as conductor on three evening concerts, with the acclaimed L.A. Phil New Music Group.

But the program covers an expansive repertoire, much of it touching on composers who have had a role in the Ojai ethos over its eight decades, including Stravinsky, Messiaen, Luciano Berio, George Crumb, Morton Feldman, György Ligeti, Schoenberg, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, and Salonen’s Finnish comrade Magnus Lindberg. From the younger, living crop of composers, the list also features artists whose music has directly touched 805 audiences: David Lang, Jessie Montgomery, Gabriella Smith, and Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, alongside rock-world figures such as Radiohead, Jonny Greenwood, and Bryce Dessner. 

Musician-wise, the list is a long and starry one, including Salonen collaborator violinist Leila Josefowicz, the Attacca Quartet, and accordionist Hanzhi Wang, who has performed a few times in Santa Barbara in recent years.

I spoke to Salonen before his first OMF year, one with a strong theme focusing on Finnish composers of his generation, including Magnus Lindberg, whose delectably clangorous Kraft was a highlight. In their wild youth, studying at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Salonen recalled, “We were very suspicious of people who wrote symphonies, because they were also the successful ones. My generation felt that success, as such, was very suspicious. If you were successful, you have already compromised something. Obviously, I have had to revise my ideas slightly over the years.”

At the time, Salonen was very much established in the circle of important conductors, in a mainstream sense, but with adventurous tastes. In what could still be a relevant self-reflection, he pointed out that “in my dreams, I still see myself as a part of an anti-establishment movement, which is a really naïve thought considering my position in the music world at the moment. 

“But still, I find it much more stimulating to be against something rather than trying to preserve something. Of course, being a conductor, you inevitably end up becoming a preserving force in the world. I don’t mind that, because there’s an awful lot worth preserving.” 

While much of the festival action takes place in the outdoor splendor of Libby Bowl, the festival does venture elsewhere in town, including free concerts at the Ojai Meadows Preserve on Saturday morning — site of a memorable event last year with percussionist-composer Susie Ibarra — and an early bird “Morning Meditation” on Sunday and at the Chaparral Auditorium. 

In short, this year’s Ojai harvest, at 80, promises much to sink one’s senses in. 

For more information about the festival, see ojaifestival.org.