Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Need a Weekend Mini-Vacation? Check Out the Ojai Music Festival
A rendering of the remodeled Libbey Bowl, venue for the Ojai Music Festival (Photo via The Libbey Bowl site)
()
If you need a mini vacation away from LA before Carmageddon, head on over to Ojai this weekend for the Ojai Music Festival. Local (and global) fave Dawn Upshawreturns to the 65th iteration of the Ojai Music Festival as music director in a well curated series highlighting contemporary composers and little known or rare works of older composers. You can get tickets for 5 concerts for as little as $68 (I hope I don't have to do the math for you) and up to $320. They also have cheaper weekend passes ($57-$266) and day passes ($25-$115).
The newly renovated Libbey Bowl will host the concerts starting tonight at 8 PM. Kicking off the festival tonight is an all-vocal program including music by Purcell, Faure, Messiaen, Szymanowski, Copland, Britten, Berio, and Granger. The performers are former/recent students of Dawn Upshaw's.
On Friday from 1 to 5, there's the Festival Symposium with Richard Tognetti of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and director Peter Sellars who talks about music in the time of war (great treat for a musically inclined recent grad, or anyone who loves Peter Sellars). This is the first part of the Winds of Destiny Project, which culminates with the Friday night performance of George Crumb's the Winds of Destiny. It is the world premiere of the staged production (by Sellars), and Dawn Upshaw is the featured Soprano.
Saturday morning's concert includes works by Janacek, Prokofiev, and Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata by Gilbert Kalish and Richard Tognetti. Tickets are as cheap as $5 for students and $20 for adults, so it's not going to cost you much. The day continues with another symposium at 3:30 with Upshaw, and finishes with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, performing works by Schnittke, Scelsi, Tognetti, Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor and Schoenberg's Transfigured Night.
Support for LAist comes from
Sunday morning, Grammy-award winning composer Maria Schneider (more on her here from the LAT) premieres a new work with her 18-piece jazz orchestra. The final concert of the 2011 Festival includes another premiere by Schneider, works by Grieg, Bartok, Webern, and Crumb performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Dawn Upshaw.
Here are some highlights from the last Ojai Music Festival.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake. -
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
Best of LAist