Hit play below to listen to our Arts Alive feature on the Ojai Music Festival.
The Ojai Music Festival starts this week and Alan Chapman tells us about one of the composers whose music is being featured.
This is the music of Galina Ustvolskaya, a Russian composer who’s been called one of the twentieth century’s grand originals. She had a close relationship with Shostakovich, and although he predicted that her music would achieve worldwide renown, it was little known for decades. But next week in Ojai many people will discover her music.
In fact, the Ojai Music Festival is a place for discoveries. The festival is reinvented each year by a musical director who brings a personal perspective to programming the weekend. This year’s musical director is Patricia Kopatchinskaja, a Moldovan violinist who’s been called the “wild child of classical violin.” And Kopatchinskaja has a special affinity for the music of Ustvolskaya.
She’ll perform two of her works with pianist Markus Hinterhäuser. Hinterhäuser will perform all six of her piano sonatas. And another concert will feature Ustvolskaya’s Dies Irae, a remarkable piece for eight double basses, wood block and piano.
And these are just part of a four day festival that offers a wide variety of music, including an exploration of Moldovan folk music for which Kopatchintskaja will be joined by two longtime members of the Moldovan state folk ensemble, who also happen to be her parents.
The Ojai Festival runs from June 7 to June 10. You can find information at ojaifestival.org.
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Alan Chapman
Alan Chapman, in addition to his weekday morning program, is also the host and producer of two weekend programs: Modern Times and A Musical Offering.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Yale University. He is currently a member of the music theory faculty of the Colburn Conservatory. He was a longtime member of the music faculty at Occidental College and has also been a visiting professor at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. His analytical work has appeared in the Journal of Music Theory and in The New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill, winner of the Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing on music.
Well known as a pre-concert lecturer, Alan has been a regular speaker on the L.A. Philharmonic's "Upbeat Live" series since its inception in 1984. He also works closely with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Pacific Symphony. His lectures have been presented by virtually every major performing organization in southern California. He has been heard globally as programmer and host of the inflight classical channel on Delta Airlines.
Alan is also active as a composer/lyricist. His songs have been performed and recorded by many artists around the world and have been honored by ASCAP, the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. His children's opera Les Moose: The Operatic Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was commissioned by LA Opera for its 1997-98 season. Alan frequently appears in cabaret evenings with his wife, soprano Karen Benjamin. They made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2000 and performed at Lincoln Center in 2006. Their recent CD, Que Será, Será: The Songs of Livingston and Evans, features the late Ray Evans telling the stories behind such beloved songs as "Mona Lisa" and "Silver Bells."
