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(Ojai, CA – September 10, 2025) – Ojai Music Festival Board Chairman Jerry Eberhardt announced today the appointment of conductor/composer/pianist Teddy Abrams as Ojai’s next Artistic and Executive Director effective September 1, 2026, with his first Festival being the 81st Festival in June 2027. He will join the ranks of such distinguished predecessors as Ara Guzelimian, who concludes his tenure with the 2026 Festival, Thomas W. Morris, Ernest Fleischmann, and Lawrence Morton. Mr. Abrams’ collaboration with the Ojai Music Festival will be concurrent with his post as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra.
“Teddy Abrams is one of today’s most striking ambassadors for the impact the arts can have on building community. His artistic sensibilities, collegial spirit, and boundless energy position him as the ideal leader for the Ojai Music Festival as it enters its eighth decade,” said Mr. Eberhardt. “My Board colleagues and I have complete confidence that Teddy will build on the Festival’s momentum and will continue to meet the expectations of our celebrated, supremely adventurous audiences and to provide the platform for our growing family of the world’s most inventive artists to experiment and grow. With the resounding success of Teddy’s work to increase access and build community through music, we know he will help advance the Festival’s commitment to reach across generations and to engage with the very heart of the Ojai community and throughout the region. As we anticipate the 80th anniversary of this glorious Festival, we feel boundless gratitude for Ara Guzelimian’s generous, steady leadership, and we welcome Teddy as we look toward the future.”
Teddy Abrams said, “The Ojai Music Festival is one of the brightest lights in the music world today. The Festival has always seemed like a magical and mythical beacon for me - this was where my mentor, Michael Tilson Thomas conducted in his early career (in addition to his own mentor, Ingolf Dahl); it is where Copland and Stravinsky shared their work, and it is the place that has brought to life the dreams of many of the greatest musicians of the past 80 years. The Ojai Music Festival represents creativity, adventure, and daring, all of which are the hardwired values of the Festival and its exceptionally loyal audiences; these are my deepest values too.”
“It is an overwhelming honor to join the Ojai family as Artistic and Executive Director. I believe the Festival has consistently offered the world a glimpse into the future of music, and the Festival’s programming provides music lovers an opportunity to experience what is possible when creative inspiration is met with an affirmation. So much of this is due to the brilliance of Ojai’s many extraordinary leaders, including this most recent period of growth and success with Ara at the helm. I can’t wait to continue Ojai’s legacy of dreaming big, challenging the music world to think differently, and presenting art that brings the world to Ojai and Ojai to the world," continued Mr. Abrams.
Ara Guzelimian commented, “This was a deeply considered decision by Ojai’s wonderful Board, led by a most experienced and knowledgeable succession committee. I greatly admire what Teddy has achieved at the Louisville Orchestra and look forward to seeing and to hearing all that he will bring to this new role. I will do all I can to assure a seamless transition and wish Teddy and this singular Festival every success in the years to come.”
Now in his twelfth season as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra, Teddy Abrams has been the galvanizing force behind the ensemble’s extraordinary artistic renewal and innovative social impact. Among his manifold achievements with the Orchestra are the Creators Corps, a trailblazing initiative that provides a fully funded residency for three composers who receive local housing, a salary, health benefits, and dedicated workspaces, the In Harmony tour, a multi-season, grand-scale community-building project funded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky that takes the Louisville Orchestra to urban and rural areas across the state, and recordings including a Grammy-Award winning album for Deutsche Grammophon featuring his own piano concerto written for Yuja Wang, one of nine works he has written for the orchestra. He was chosen as Musical America’s 2022 Conductor of the Year, and his work has been profiled by CBS Sunday Morning, PBS NewsHour, NPR, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, which hails him as a “maestro of the people” who “has embedded himself in his community, breaking the mold of modern conductors.”
Mr. Abrams is a passionate advocate for the music of today, having commissioned and/or premiered works by over 40 composers including, Caroline Shaw, Gabriel Kahane, Mason Bates, Christopher Cerrone, Andrew Norman, Angélica Negrón, Timo Andres, Julia Wolfe, Valerie Coleman, Michael Gordon, Lera Auerbach, Chris Thile, Tyshawn Sorey, and Joel Thompson. A cornerstone of his work in Kentucky is the Louisville Orchestra’s Creators Corps, which has welcomed 11 composers into the program thus far, resulting in more than 30 new works by composers Alex Berko, Lisa Bielawa, TJ Cole, Baldwin Giang, Anthony R. Green, Brittany Green, Oswald Huỳnh, Chelsea Komschlies, Kiru Okoye, Tanner Porter, and Tyler Taylor. Recognized for his commitment to making music accessible and to deepening community connections, he currently serves as the Aspen Institute Arts Program’s Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence, a platform which invites Mr. Abrams to lend his perspective in addressing major social and civic issues.
In May 2025, Mr. Guzelimian announced his intention to step away from Ojai, which allowed for an extensive national search for his successor. Prior to this most recent six-year collaboration with the Festival (2020 – 2026), with Music Directors John Adams, AMOC (American Modern Opera Company), Rhiannon Giddens, Mitsuko Uchida, Claire Chase, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, he was Ojai’s Artistic Director from 1992 to 1997, working closely with Music Directors Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Kent Nagano, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Emanuel Ax. All told, Mr. Guzelimian will have shaped Ojai's artistic direction for 12 years when he concludes his tenure from the Festival following the 80th Festival in June 2026.
The Ojai Music Festival and Ara Guzelimian will share details for the upcoming 2026 Festival (June 11-14, 2026) with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen in the fall of 2025.
Teddy Abrams
The winner of a Grammy Award and Musical America’s 2022 Conductor of the Year, Teddy Abrams has been the galvanizing force behind the Louisville Orchestra’s extraordinary artistic renewal and innovative social impact since his appointment as Music Director in September 2014. His Kentucky achievements include acclaimed programs such as the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps and the In Harmony Tour, and adventurous collaborations with artists including Jim James, Jack Harlow, Storm Large, and Jecorey “1200” Arthur, with whom Mr. Abrams founded the Louisville Orchestra Rap School. He collaborates regularly in Louisville and elsewhere with the leading artists of our time including Yo-Yo Ma, Yuja Wang, and Chris Thile.
Mr. Abrams’ guest conducting activities take him across the country, with regular appearances with the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Cincinnati, National, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee Symphonies, the Buffalo and Los Angeles Philharmonics; the Minnesota Orchestra; and at the Ravinia and Aspen Music Festivals. He was Music Director and Conductor of the Britt Festival Orchestra from 2013 to 2023. In Europe, he has conducted the Helsinki and Luxembourg Philharmonics and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He makes debuts with the Atlanta Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and London’s BBC Symphony Orchestra in the 2025-26 season.
Teddy Abrams is an award-winning composer, whose recent compositions for the Louisville Orchestra include a piano concerto for Yuja Wang, which they recorded for Deutsche Grammophon’s The American Project, winning the pianist and himself a Grammy Award; Mammoth, premiered with Yo-Yo Ma and Davóne Tines at Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park; and his rap opera, The Greatest: Muhammad Ali. His recording of his piano collection Preludes was released on New Amsterdam Records in 2025. He is now at work on a Broadway musical, ALI, and an orchestral history of the state of Kentucky. For additional bio information, visit www.ojaifestival.org/teddy-
Ojai Music Festival
The Ojai Music Festival represents an ideal of adventurous, open-minded, and openhearted programming in the most beautiful and welcoming settings, with audiences and artists to match its aspirations. Now in its 80th year, the Festival remains a creative laboratory for thought-provoking musical experiences, bringing together innovative artists and curious audiences in an intimate, idyllic outdoor setting. Each Festival’s narrative is guided by a different Music Director, whose distinctive perspectives shape programming — ensuring energized festivals year after year.
Throughout each year, the Ojai Music Festival contributes to Southern California’s cultural landscape with in-person and online programming as well as robust educational offerings that serve thousands of public-school students and seniors. The organization’s apex is the world-renowned Festival, which takes place over four days in Ojai, a breathtaking valley 75 miles from Los Angeles, which is a perennial platform for the fresh and unexpected. During the immersive experience, a mingling of the most curious take part in concerts, symposia, free community events, and social gatherings. The intimate Festival weekend, considered a highlight of the international summer music season, welcomes up to 5,000 patrons and reaches exponentially more audiences worldwide through streaming and broadcasts of concerts and discussions throughout the year.
Since its founding in 1947, the Ojai Music Festival has presented expansive programming in unusual ways with an eclectic mix of new and rarely performed music, as well as refreshing juxtapositions of musical styles. Through its signature structure of the Artistic Director appointing a different Music Director each year, Ojai has presented a “who’s who” of music including Mitsuko Uchida, Rhiannon Giddens, AMOC (American Modern Opera Company), Vijay Iyer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and Barbara Hannigan in recent years; throughout its history, featured artists have included Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, David Robertson, Eighth Blackbird, George Benjamin, Dawn Upshaw, Leif Ove Andsnes, Mark Morris, Jeremy Denk, Steven Schick, Matthias Pintscher, and Peter Sellars.
80th Festival: June 11 – 14, 2026
Composer/Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to the Ojai Music Festival to serve as Music Director for the 80th Festival, June 11 to 14, 2026. Joining him as featured artists will be clarinetist Anthony McGill, Attacca Quartet, the Colburn Orchestra, and LA Phil New Music Group. Esa-Pekka Salonen is one of the most inventive, adventurous thinkers of 21st-century musical life. The unique format of the Ojai Music Festival will give him an unusually free creative hand as both composer and conductor.
For Festival series passes to the 2026 Festival, visit OjaiFestival.org or call 805 646 2053.
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