“Glance through the program of the 2021 Ojai Music Festival, which takes place this weekend following a three-month pandemic delay, and two things are immediately apparent. The music director is John Adams. And there is very little music by John Adams,” writes Tom Jacobs in Monday’s (9/13) San Francisco Classical Voice. “ ‘I was mostly interested in focusing on young musicians. Now, particularly in the United States, there is an explosion of talent,’ [Adams said]. Adams and Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian have put together a series of programs filled with music by next-generation composers, including Timo Andres, Dylan Mattingly, Gabriela Ortiz, and Gabriella Smith. Many of the performers are also on the young side, including the Attacca Quartet and the highly acclaimed 37-year-old Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson.… The Ojai Festival … will find [Adams] conducting both the LA Phil New Music Group and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The latter ensemble will perform at the closing concert … which will feature two of Adams’s arias performed by vocalist Rhiannon Giddens…. ‘What makes Ojai special is the audience is made up of very knowledgeable, sophisticated listeners,’ Adams said.”
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