The 2022 Ojai Music Festival runs June 9-12, 2022 and features the world premiere of Family Dinner, an hourlong cycle of “mini-concertos” by Matthew Aucoin. Scored for voices and ensemble, Family Dinner is written for members of American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), who collectively serve as Music Director for the 2022 Ojai Festival. Co-founded by Aucoin and director Zack Winokur in 2017, AMOC is “revitalizing what American music theater can mean with several of our most revolutionary young talents.” (Los Angeles Times).
Family Dinner is commissioned by the Ojai Festival, and captures the raucous, joyful energy of a multi-course dinner with beloved friends. The music ranges from introspective to riotously dancelike; it is also punctuated by spoken “toasts” composed by writers and thinkers who are collaborators of AMOC’s artists. The performance takes place the evening June 11, with the composer conducting.
On June 10 at Ojai, AMOC debuts Zack Winokur’s staging of Olivier Messiaen’s song cycle Harawi, featuring soprano Julia Bullock and choreography by Bobbi Jene Smith. Also to be staged by Winokur is EASTMAN, AMOC’s tribute to the mighty artistry of Julius Eastman. This hourlong tapestry of Eastman’s creativity and humanity features noted Eastman interpreters such as bass-baritone Davóne Tines and cellist Seth Parker Woods. EASTMAN includes some of the composer’s most affecting and visionary works: Buddha, Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, and the epic, joyous Stay on It.
The 2022 Ojai Music Festival takes place during LGBTQIA+ Pride Month and fittingly offers additional works by Aucoin and Eastman, two of the most daring musical figures in the queer community, throughout the weekend.
For more information, please contact your local Wise Music Promotion Team. See Contact Us.
