Introduction to Ojai Music Festival's 60th Anniversary Commemorative Book
In celebration of the Ojai Music Festival’s 60th anniversary, we thought it fitting to honor the numerous individuals and discuss the various components that have helped create this world renowned, ground breaking event.
Each topic covered is a vital element of the Festival. Each contributing writer has devoted a significant portion of their personal and professional lives to ensure that, year after year, music, discussion, and applause fill the air during this long weekend in early June. Although the contributing writers’ voices carry their own unique timbre, unifying themes continue to play out in each essay. The welcoming, open, intrepid spirit that permeates the Ojai Valley’s atmosphere affects the people living in or simply visiting this small corner of the world. The community supports the arts and artists. The art and artists support the community. They do not stand alone.
Intrepidness influences the musical programming. The Ojai Musical Festival’s many esteemed Music and Artistic Directors, conductors, composers, and musicians have always adventurously performed new, avant-garde musical pieces. They have also given new talent the opportunity to begin their careers, and many of these careers have ascended to the grandest heights possible.
Yet, these musical moguls always return to Ojai because, above all else, they love music. Pomp and circumstance often interfere with our true purpose and obscure good intentions, but Ojai is an honest place. Its beauty is natural and pure. Its peace is steady and unaffected. Here, music can simply be music, and we can simply listen and enjoy.
Ojai Music Festival's 60th Anniversary Documentary Script Excerpt
NARRATOR
An hour-and-a-half drive north from the teeming metropolis of Los Angeles, there lies a peaceful valley, seemingly untouched by time. The Chumash Indians named the tranquil valley Ojai, which means nest in their native language. The name implies a nurturing atmosphere, a harmony of nature and spirit. All who visit this marvelous corner of the earth bear witness to its majestic, intangible beauty.
Famous for its population of artists, writers, painters and thespians, Ojai has also provided a spacious, transformative ground for many meditative and contemplative groups. In 1945, John and Helen Bauer conceived of the idea for the Ojai Music Festival with a mission to present new and unfamiliar music and to educate the current and future generations.
This remarkable, world-renowned series of musical and artistic events has evolved over the last sixty years into a legendary occasion, a haven, a little grail for any who enjoy the pilgrimage. The New York Times recently wrote, “Since its founding, Ojai has won admirers for its adventurous programming that takes seriously the music of our time. Stravinsky, Copland, Messiaen and Pierre Boulez all journeyed here with their own works in hand. Audiences come expecting the unusual, the modern. They even welcome it.”