OJAICAST

Hanzhi Wang demonstrates the incredible range of her accordion, talks about working with dancers and discusses her own connection to mountains for the Saturday morning meditation performance at the Ojai Meadows Preserve. Will Thomas, Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Hanzhi Wang, guest OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks Music featured - 1. Sequenza XIII composed by Luciano Berio and...

Pianist Vicki Ray dives into the Saturday evening program discussing works by Magnus Lindberg, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Gabriela Smith, and John Adams. Will Thomas, Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Vicki Ray, guest OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks Music featured - 1. Related Rocks composed by Magnus Lindberg and performed by Emil Holmström, Joonas Ahonen, Jani Niinimäki and Jerry Pii...

Join us for fascinating stories and a deep exploration into pieces Jonathan Hepfer will be performing by Globokar, Xenakis and Ferneyhough at this year’s Festival. Will Thomas, Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Jonathan Hepfer, guest OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks Music featured - 1. Komboi composed by Iannis Xenakis and performed by Red Fish Blue Fish and Steven Schick on the al...

Artistic Director, Ara Guzelimian talks about Esa-Pekka Salonen's return to the festival, Messiaen's birdsong obsession and celebrating 80 years of the Ojai Music Festival. Will Thomas, Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Ara Guzelimian, guest OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks Music featured - 1. Lachen Verlernt composed by Esa-Pekka Salonen and performed by Tim Fain on the album Unra...

In our fourth and final episode of this series leading up to the 2025 Ojai Music Festival, Leilehua Lanzilotti discusses giant reverbs and how Hawaiian culture influences her music. Composer Liza Lim then talks about writing for solo flute and explains How Forests Think. Will Thomas, Writer & Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Leilehua Lanzilotti and Liza Lim, Guests OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kot...

This week we look behind the scenes of how the Ojai Music Festival is curated with this year’s Music Director, Claire Chase and the Festival’s Artistic and Executive Director, Ara Guzelimian. Claire tells the story of this year’s Pulitzer Prize winning piece, Sky Islands by Susie Ibarra. She also demonstrates some of her exotic flute sounds and techniques. Will Thomas, Writer & Producer Christ...

In this episode, cellist Jay Campbell discusses the adventurous programming of the Ojai Music Festival (June 5-8) and his recurring role on the Libbey Bowl stage with the JACK Quartet. Composer Annea Lockwood then takes us on an aural journey down rivers and bayous as she shares about her decades-long trials of recording the wind. Will Thomas, Writer & Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Jay Camp...

We launch season five of OJAICAST as your host Christopher Noxon dives into the lineup of the 2025 Ojai Music Festival (June 5-8).   He joins composer-in-residence Marcos Balter and talks about writing music at a young age, audience participation, and collaborating with this year’s Music Director Claire Chase.   Will Thomas, Writer & Producer Christopher Noxon, Host Marcos Balter, Guest  OJAIC...

This season on OJAICAST, we have one very special episode where Emily Praetorius gets to talk in-depth with Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian about what magic is in store for us at the 2024 Ojai Music Festival (June 6-9). From Mozart to Schoenberg and Haydn to Gubaidulina, we take a musical tour of the Festival programming with some extra insights into Music Director Mitsuko Uchida’s...

Our final episode welcomes kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, pipa player Wu Man, and multi-instrumetalist Francesco Turrisi to the podcast, where they discuss the history of their instruments, how they are played in contemporary music today, and what we can look forward to in this year’s festival programming. Niloufar Shiri Performs at Ojai Meadows Preserve Niloufar Shiri Pop Up Pipa with Wu Man  ...

Our second episode takes a look at the idea of composing across boundaries with festival composers Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Carlos Simon. Shawn Okpebholo Ojai Virtual Talks: Lei Liang and Steve Schick Niloufar Noubakhsh and IFCA Carlos Simon, Requiem for the Enslaved Bill Traylor  Emily Praetorius, host and producer Louis Ng, recording engineer OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff and Louis Weeks Musi...

Our first episode gives an in-depth look into the 77th Ojai Music Festival (June 8th - 11th, 2023), curated by Music Director Rhiannon Giddens. Special guest Executive Director Ara Guzelimian will give us some insights into the creation of this year's festival programming and background on some of pieces being played. Ojai Virtual Talks, Rhiannon Giddens Uncovering the History of the Banjo with Rh...

More music, meditation, and dance plus community events end the four-day Festival starting with Meditation with the music of Julius Eastman, followed by Hans Otte’s The Book of Sounds, and two world premieres Dance in the Park and Rome is Falling. To end this jam-packed Fesrival, the Sunday Finale will display the virtuosity of all 17 AMOC members as a collective. Guests: Ara Guzelimian, Julia Eic...

Let Festival weekend begin! In this episode we look at the Saturday program which is quintessential Ojai Music Festival -- music of Bach and Bach re-imagined and three premieres of some of today’s most exciting composers Matthew Aucoin, Carolyn Chen, and Andrew McIntosh. Guests: AMOC co-founder/composer Matthew Aucoin and AMOC member and violinist Miranda Cuckson. Emily Praetorius, producer and ho...

From early morning sunrise to evening sunset, AMOC dives into the music of icons George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell, the life and music of Julius Eastman alongside world premieres of works by Anthony Cheung and new staging of Messian’s Harawi. Guests: AMOC member and flutist Emi Ferguson and composer Anthony Cheung. Emily Praetorius, producer and host Louis Ng, sound engineer ( lensonproductions.com...

Our first episode introduces us to our 2022 Music Director AMOC, the multidisciplinary collective which incorporates music, dance, poetry, theatre in all their work and their ambitious programming that begins on Thu June 9. Guests: Ara Guzelimian, Zack Winokur, and Keir Gogwilt Emily Praetorius, producer and host Louis Ng, sound engineer ( lensonproductions.com ) OJAICAST theme by Thomas Kotcheff...

The Ojai Music Festival has been around since 1947, but rather than sticking to status quo, it continues to evolve and surprise with unusual intersections of musical styles and genres. Invited to talk about their Ojai experiences will be alum - Matthew Duvall of Eighth Blackbird, Music Director of 2009, and Steven Schick, percussionist, conductor and Music Director of 2015. SHOW NOTES / CREDITS:  ...

Classical music can be intimidating to newcomers and frequent concertgoers alike, even more so, new contemporary music. Host Thomas Kotcheff discusses this topic with the help from his guests, Musicologist Lance Brunner and composer Veronika Krausas, on finding meaning and confidence in the process of listening to classical music. SHOW NOTES / CREDITS:   Thomas Kotcheff, host  Thomas Kotcheff, pro...

American composer and conductor John Adams, who leads the 75th Ojai Music Festival, has been an influence for many artists and composers, including several of our 2021 collaborators.  The second episode invites pianists Vicki Ray and Joanne Pearce Martin, composer Dylan Mattingly, and chairman emeritus and longtime president of Nonesuch Records Robert Hurwitz to discuss their personal connections...

Our first episode gives an in-depth look into the 75th Ojai Music Festival (September 16-29, 2021) repertoire and the musical threads that connect it all together, curated by Music Director John Adams. Guests include Ojai Festival Artistic & Executive Director Ara Guzelimian, Program Book Annotator Thomas May, and featured 2021 composer Gabriela Ortiz. SHOW NOTES / CREDITS: Thomas Kotcheff, ho...