The schedules for the Ojai Music Festival, held in Ojai, June 12–15, and Ojai North, presented by Cal Performances at Berkeley, June 19–21, have now been announced. Both festivals feature a broad-ranging program, reflecting the musical mind of this year's Music Director, Jeremy Denk, and including the premiere of a comic opera with libretto by Denk, and multiple performances from Denk and his fellow pianist and Nonesuch artist Timo Andres. Watch Denk discuss some of the Ojai programming here.
The schedules for the 68th Ojai Music Festival, held in Ojai, June 12–15, 2014, and the fourth Ojai North Music Festival, presented by Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, June 19–21, are now available. Both festivals feature a broad-ranging program, reflecting the musical mind of this year's Music Director, Jeremy Denk, and include multiple performances from Denk and his fellow pianist and Nonesuch Records artist Timo Andres.
“We have devised a festival that will truly reveal Jeremy’s very unique, creative, lighthearted, but serious view of music,” said Ojai Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris. “It’s a festival of music about music. Against a framework of classical pillars (Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven), we will examine such music and others through different lenses ... This will be an adventure of musical passions, love of fun, provocation, and serious intent.”
One of the Festival highlights will be the world premiere of a commissioned opera conceived by Denk, The Classical Style, based on the eponymous book by American pianist and scholar Charles Rosen. With libretto by Denk and music by composer Steven Stucky, the comic opera will be premiered at the Ojai Music Festival on June 13, 2014, with two further performances at Hertz Hall in Berkeley for Ojai North on June 19 and 20, by the New York–based orchestra The Knights, conducted by Robert Spano. Denk describes the work as "a love letter to Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, and a satire of classical pomp."
Jeremy Denk's own performances at the festivals include a concert with the Uri Caine Ensemble on Opening Night, June 12, and in Berkeley on June 21; the complete Ives Sonatas for Violin and Piano with violinist Jennifer Frautschi at Ojai the morning of June 14 followed by the world premiere of a new piano piece by Andrew Norman later that night; a morning concert of Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony and more on June 15, followed by an evening concert of the Ligeti etudes (featured on his Nonesuch debut album, Ligeti/Beethoven) and works by Ives and Beethoven, which will close out the Ojai Festival and will be performed again to close out Ojai North in Berkeley on June 21.
Jeremy Denk made his Ojai debut in 2009 performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Ives’s First Piano Sonata, plus numerous chamber music works.
Timo Andres will also join The Knights for the June 14 concert at Ojai, performing his re-composition of Mozart's Coronation Concerto, which can be heard on his 2013 Nonesuch release, Home Stretch, and again in Berkeley on the afternoon of June 21. Andres will also give a solo piano concert for donors at the Ojai Art Center the afternoon of June 15.
For more on Jeremy Denk and Timo Andres's upcoming performances, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. For the complete Ojai Music Festival and Ojai North programs, visit ojaifestival.org and calperformances.org, respectively.
Watch Denk discuss some of the 2014 Ojai programming in the video below:
Earlier today, Thomas Morris announced the music directors for the upcoming three seasons: percussionist/conductor Steven Schick, 2015; director and frequent John Adams collaborator Peter Sellars, 2016; and conductor/composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, 2017.
- Log in to post comments
