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A Message from the Music Director
Well, it’s all thanks to Lois.
Two years ago, I played the Ojai Music Festival and was lucky enough to stay with one Lois Rice, steadfast Ojai supporter, razor-sharp businesswoman, and all-around wonderful human being. We had just made some biscuits and eggs in her restaurant-worthy kitchen (she made the eggs, I made the biscuits) and were talking about the upcoming, closing show of the Festival, and how there wasn’t an after party planned because…well, you know. COVID. Lois immediately said, “Well, why don’t you just invite a few of the organizers here? I’ll order pizza, we’ll make cocktails, let’s make it happen!” After an exhilarating last concert that Sunday night, I found myself holding a cocktail and having a deep conversation with Ara Guzelimian — and the idea for the program you hold in your hands was born. It’s a reminder of how much creativity takes place in the befores and the afters; in the warm homes of ardent supporters and in the green rooms of venues; in all the liminal spaces of the performing arts world — those spaces that were hit the hardest with the strictures of COVID.
The first program is called Liquid Borders, and that is a pretty good descriptor for this entire weekend. Every border is porous, movable, and ultimately, artificial — like a color spectrum, musical forms blend into each other, and the only definitions are the ones that we collectively decide on. It’s only purple when everybody says it’s purple. What is classical music? What is folk? Does it matter? Who gets to decide?
For this weekend, no decisions are necessary — because it’s all there. From China, to Iran, to Italy, to the United States — and everywhere in between — we have musicians who will channel all the years of practice, study, emotional living, and knowledge into music that will move the soul, satisfy the mind, and warm the heart. We have compositions straddling worlds and challenging expectations. We have collaborations that will make connections that nobody will see coming but will immediately be unable to live without.
In short, there will be the fullest spectrum of handmade music imaginable — purple and all.
