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$5 LAWN TICKETS FOR COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
FOR THE 64th OJAI MUSIC FESTIVAL

Shanbrom Family Foundation Assists with Successful Audience Development Program

(March 31, 2010, Ojai, California) – In an effort to provide college and high school students affordable access to the best in new classical music, the Ojai Music Festival will offer significant student discounts to performances at the 64th Ojai Music Festival. Thanks in part to a grant from the Shanbrom Family Foundation, students may purchase lawn tickets for $5 and receive half price reserved section seats with current ID.

Taking place from June 10 – 13 in Ojai, California, the Festival will explore the works and celebrate musical influences of its music director, celebrated British composer/conductor George Benjamin. Although this is his Ojai debut, Benjamin is steeped in the Ojai tradition through his close relationships with Ojai alumni including Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen, and Oliver Knussen. Benjamin’s 2010 Ojai Music Festival programs venerate these relationships.

Marking its West Coast premiere, the Ensemble Modern (EM), one of the world’s preeminent new music ensembles, will perform four distinct programs including works by Frank Zappa with whom EM collaborated in 1992 and whose music they recorded in 2002.

Additional highlights of the four-day music event include Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus and Oiseaux Exotiques, Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto, music of Henry Purcell, and the West Coast premiere of Benjamin’s chamber opera, Into the Little Hill. Hailed as “the opera of the decade” by London’s Telegraph, Into the Little Hill will be performed by the Welsh contralto Hilary Summers and the Finnish soprano Anu Komsi, Benjamin’s muses for whom he “designed” the work and with whom the opera was premiered in 2006 in Paris.. Visit OjaiFestival.org for detailed programming information, multimedia video/audio clips, artist biographies, and more.

In addition to the Festival’s core concerts, Ojai offers free Beyond the Bowl events including late-night and afternoon Raga performances by renowned musician Aashish Khan. One hour before each Libbey Bowl concert, musicologist and internationally recognized lecturer Christopher Hailey will offer free Concert Insights, a discussion of the related concert with featured artists.

An Ojai tradition, the Festival Symposium allows audiences to become immersed in the Festival programming, moderated by former artistic director and Dean of the Juilliard School, Ara Guzelimian. The three-part symposium will take place at Matilija Auditorium and will include an exploration of The 21st Century Musician, a Conversation with George Benjamin, and an introduction to The World of Zappa. Symposium panel guests will include 2010 Ojai musicians, along with special guests and Ojai alumni.

Concerts will take place outdoors at the Libbey Bowl under a canopy of live oaks and safeguarded by the sacred “Wedding” tree, a sycamore thought to have taken root when the first “Americans” set foot on our shores. Other events will be held at Libbey Park, the Ojai Theater and Matilija Auditorium, the site of the original Festival concerts in 1947.
In addition to nearby hotels, campsites are available in Ojai with Wheeler Gorge Campgrounds (805) 640-1977 and in Ventura with Lake Casitas Recreation Area (805) 649-1122.

Tickets and Information
Student tickets are $5 for lawn and half off for the reserved section seats with current ID, and may be purchased at the Box Office during Festival weekend. Regular Ojai Festival single tickets range from $35 to $95 for reserved seating; lawn seats are $15. To purchase tickets or for additional information, call 805-646-2094 or visit www.OjaiFestival.org.

Ojai Music Festival: Gina Gutierrez, ggutierrez@ojaifestival.org (805) 646-2094
Regional: Laura Cohen, lcmediapr@gmail.com (818) 541-5521