Ara Guzelimian's guest appearances

Ara Guzelimian

ICLS Talks, Panels and Conferences

Ojai: Talk of the Town 

Rhiannon Giddens

Mark Lewis

Chris Hill

Michele Moody-Adams

Scott Johnson

Kevin Davis

David Lewis

Malcolm McDowell

Lucy Bellwood

Jeff Mann

Connor Jones

Mark Frost

Eleanor Roosevelt

Peter Fox

Daniel Barenboim

OwlTail

The Ojai Music Festival's Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian was well situated to lead the festival through the tumult of the past three years. He's certainly looking forward to the June 8-11 festival this year and a return to something more closely resembling normal and worrying more about the music and less about the logistics of managing this premier festival of modern contemporary music through a global pandemic. He will be helped this year by returning guest Rhiannon Giddens (ep. 70), as Music Director. Giddens, a generational talent whose broad interests are well-suited to Ojai's spirit of musical adventure and exploration, was so charmed by Ojai in 2020 (the festival was held in September that covid-19 year) that she was eager to return. Ara didn't have to ask her twice to partner with him on programming. Among the audience offerings this year will be a chamber and voice ensemble performing Giddens' "Omar's Journey," from her opera about the Islamic scholar who was sold into bondage in the 19th century and continued his scholarly pursuits despite the horrors of slavery. Of course, there will also be the wide range of pieces performed which characterize the festival, from Bach to John Adams to ancient Chinese music to folk ballads to rapper DJ Flying Lotus. Guzelimian was formerly the artistic director in the 1990s, and recently retired as Dean of The Julliard School, perhaps the most prestigious music school in the country. He has conducted the popular "chalk talks" before the performances for decades. We talked about his journey to Ojai, his brilliant career and Ojai's mystical nature. We also talked about John Luther Adams, Harry Partsch and why Ojai remains so important to global culture. We did not talk about FDR's campaign against Alf Landon, Neopolitan pizza culture or sportfishing for Nile perch on Lake Tanganyika. Check out this year's schedule at ... https://www.ojaifestival.org/2023-festival-schedule/

The Ojai Music Festival's Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian was well situated to lead the festival through the tumult of the past three years. He's certainly looking forward to the June 8-11 festival this year and a return to something more closely resembling normal and worrying more about the music and less about the logistics of managing this premier festival of modern contemporary music through a global pandemic. He will be helped this year by returning guest Rhiannon Giddens (ep. 70), as Music Director. Giddens, a generational talent whose broad interests are well-suited to Ojai's spirit of musical adventure and exploration, was so charmed by Ojai in 2020 (the festival was held in September that covid-19 year) that she was eager to return. Ara didn't have to ask her twice to partner with him on programming. Among the audience offerings this year will be a chamber and voice ensemble performing Giddens' "Omar's Journey," from her opera about the Islamic scholar who was sold into bondage in the 19th century and continued his scholarly pursuits despite the horrors of slavery. Of course, there will also be the wide range of pieces performed which characterize the festival, from Bach to John Adams to ancient Chinese music to folk ballads to rapper DJ Flying Lotus. Guzelimian was formerly the artistic director in the 1990s, and recently retired as Dean of The Julliard School, perhaps the most prestigious music school in the country. He has conducted the popular "chalk talks" before the performances for decades. We talked about his journey to Ojai, his brilliant career and Ojai's mystical nature. We also talked about John Luther Adams, Harry Partsch and why Ojai remains so important to global culture. We did not talk about FDR's campaign against Alf Landon, Neopolitan pizza culture or sportfishing for Nile perch on Lake Tanganyika. Check out this year's schedule at ... <a href="https://www.ojaifestival.org/2023-festival-schedule/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.ojaifestival.org/2023-festival-schedule/</a>

Ara Guzelimian on the Ojai Music Festival, Rhiannon Giddens and More

The 74th Ojai Music Festival will still take place June 11 to June 14, but due to the pandemic, it will occur virtually as we learn from Ara Guzelimian, who takes over from Chad Smith as artistic director after this year's festival. Guzelimian is busy planning for the 75th anniversary festival for June 2021, with minimalist legend John Adams as music director, putting modern American composers in the spotlight.  As for 2020's festival, he urges everyone to go OjaiFestival.Org to keep in the loop as there will be streaming events each day. Although the 74th Ojai Music Festival will have an asterisk next to it because of its virtual nature, a t-shirt, program book and other swag will be available, and could very well become collector's items.  Guzelimian has been coming to the festival for more than 50 years, attending with his parents (second-generation refugees from the Armenian Genocide) from Los Angeles. He was the festival's artistic director for six years from 1992 to 1997. His day job is as dean of the Julliard School in Manhattan. at the Lincoln Center, with his nearest neighbors the Metropolitan Opera House and the New York Philharmonic. "But I live just outside the city, I need a few more trees and leaves than is available in mid-town Manhattan. He said between the pandemic and the protests, downtown is a city of "ghost canyons."  Despite the protests and "heart-wrenching anger and acts of violence," he says the way forward is get involved in service. "Are you feeling sorry for yourself? Go out and help someone," he said. He's excited about 2021's festival. John Adams, next year's music director, "has occupied place in American life like Aaron Copland, the spirit of American music." Fittingly, Adams himself will turn 75 next year. We talk about favorite festival moments, such as a performance of John Luther Adams music staged by previous artistic director Tom Morris at Meditation Mount, in which strategically placed piccolos blended in seamlessly with the bird song. Or how Michio Uchida's performance of Schubert's Sonata in B flat on a hot afternoon transformed the audience with a mesmerising performance "that willed the heat away, and intensely inward collective experience." Another example was a Boulez-conducted performance of Schoenberg about moon madness in which, right on cue, a full moon rose up to hang heavy in the sky above "Libbey Bowl, a place where the wall between the audience and nature melts away ... there's something incredibly hospitable about the Ojai Valley that welcomes exploration, adventure and creativity." To sum up the Ojai Music Festival, Guzelimian offers this: "Experience and discovery. If you could bottle that, that's the essence of the Ojai Music Festival." We also talk about Rains and Bart's Books, about Chumash sacred art, the Thomas Fire and the influence of Ghanaian drummers on Steve Reich. We indulge in the age-old East Coast v. West Coast cultural supremacy argument, coming down firmly on the West Coast/Best Coast side because of the "openness to the unexpected that comes from living on the edge" of the Pacific Rim. We don't talk about Sandy Koufax, drop D guitar tuning or Barney's Beanery.

The 74th Ojai Music Festival will still take place June 11 to June 14, but due to the pandemic, it will occur virtually as we learn from Ara Guzelimian, who takes over from Chad Smith as artistic director after this year's festival. Guzelimian is busy planning for the 75th anniversary festival for June 2021, with minimalist legend John Adams as music director, putting modern American composers in the spotlight.  As for 2020's festival, he urges everyone to go <a href="http://OjaiFestival.Org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">OjaiFestival.Org</a> to keep in the loop as there will be streaming events each day. Although the 74th Ojai Music Festival will have an asterisk next to it because of its virtual nature, a t-shirt, program book and other swag will be available, and could very well become collector's items.  Guzelimian has been coming to the festival for more than 50 years, attending with his parents (second-generation refugees from the Armenian Genocide) from Los Angeles. He was the festival's artistic director for six years from 1992 to 1997. His day job is as dean of the Julliard School in Manhattan. at the Lincoln Center, with his nearest neighbors the Metropolitan Opera House and the New York Philharmonic. "But I live just outside the city, I need a few more trees and leaves than is available in mid-town Manhattan. He said between the pandemic and the protests, downtown is a city of "ghost canyons."  Despite the protests and "heart-wrenching anger and acts of violence," he says the way forward is get involved in service. "Are you feeling sorry for yourself? Go out and help someone," he said. He's excited about 2021's festival. John Adams, next year's music director, "has occupied place in American life like Aaron Copland, the spirit of American music." Fittingly, Adams himself will turn 75 next year. We talk about favorite festival moments, such as a performance of John Luther Adams music staged by previous artistic director Tom Morris at Meditation Mount, in which strategically placed piccolos blended in seamlessly with the bird song. Or how Michio Uchida's performance of Schubert's Sonata in B flat on a hot afternoon transformed the audience with a mesmerising performance "that willed the heat away, and intensely inward collective experience." Another example was a Boulez-conducted performance of Schoenberg about moon madness in which, right on cue, a full moon rose up to hang heavy in the sky above "Libbey Bowl, a place where the wall between the audience and nature melts away ... there's something incredibly hospitable about the Ojai Valley that welcomes exploration, adventure and creativity." To sum up the Ojai Music Festival, Guzelimian offers this: "Experience and discovery. If you could bottle that, that's the essence of the Ojai Music Festival." We also talk about Rains and Bart's Books, about Chumash sacred art, the Thomas Fire and the influence of Ghanaian drummers on Steve Reich. We indulge in the age-old East Coast v. West Coast cultural supremacy argument, coming down firmly on the West Coast/Best Coast side because of the "openness to the unexpected that comes from living on the edge" of the Pacific Rim. We don't talk about Sandy Koufax, drop D guitar tuning or Barney's Beanery.

Experience & Discovery: The Ojai Music Festival with Ara Guzelimian

Recorded February 1, 2013 at the Miller Theatre, Columbia UniversityA conversation between Maestro Daniel Barenboim and Ara Guzelimian(Provost and Dean of The Julliard School)about Edward W. Said and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. This event was the first in a series of activities at Columbia University in 2013 remembering Edward W. Said on the 10th anniversary of his passing. A 7pm conversation between Daniel Barenboim and Ara Guzelimian (Dean and Provost, The Juilliard School) will be followed by an 8pm performance by Daniel Barenboim and members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.Co-sponsored by the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

Recorded February 1, 2013 at the Miller Theatre, Columbia University A conversation between Maestro Daniel Barenboim and Ara Guzelimian(Provost and Dean of The Julliard School)about Edward W. Said and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. This event was the first in a series of activities at Columbia University in 2013 remembering Edward W. Said on the 10th anniversary of his passing. A 7pm conversation between Daniel Barenboim and Ara Guzelimian (Dean and Provost, The Juilliard School) will be followed by an 8pm performance by Daniel Barenboim and members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Co-sponsored by the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.