1994’s Musical High Notes : It was marked by presentations at the new Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, fine symphonic concerts and lots of good jazz.

Whatever else may have happened, 1994 in Ventura County will be remembered as the Year of the Curtain.

First there came the rippling metal fabric of the copper curtain, a dramatic display visible to travelers on the Ventura Freeway. Not long after, the actual curtain rose and the portals flung open at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks. A crown jewel came to town.

We watched it grow from the ground up, we road-weary commuters flying past T.O. From the skeletal stage through the completion of the fortress-like mass, the Civic Arts Plaza became a conspicuous symbol of high hopes for cultural advancement.

And so, as of October, the county had itself a new edifice for the arts. It’s too early to say what the long-range effects will be, or whether the programming will venture outward from its so-far middle-of-the road path. But, as a symbol of cultural potential, it refuses to be ignored.

For one thing, the place is both a boon and a boot for the Conejo Symphony Orchestra. The official resident orchestra of the venue faces the challenge of honing its wares to an ever higher level and also attending to the basic necessity of attendance. The orchestra must draw a larger house than it was accustomed to in its previous stomping grounds at Cal Lutheran University.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the county, the Ventura County Symphony continued its adventures under the skilled guidance and avuncular charm of Boris Brott, now in the midst of his third season. Last spring, Brott marshaled the enticing, exotic “Musics Alive!” series at various spots around the county, celebrating world music traditions of China, India and Indonesia, and weaving in work of contemporary composers. Encore.

The symphony’s season began on shaky ground, in a bout of contract negotiations with musicians. Dealing with increasingly accomplished ranks of musicians has enhanced the orchestra’s quality, and touchy professional dealings may be one side effect that the local symphony hadn’t bargained for. Tangling, and finally tangoing, the season thankfully commenced.

The resident Music Man of the Year award has to go to Miguel del Aguila, the Uruguayan-born, Oxnard-based composer of considerable imagination and cross-cultural literacy. Aguila has had his work performed around the world, in New York this fall, and had a strong presence in the county this year.

To its credit, the Ventura County Symphony kicked off its season in October with a world premiere of Aguila’s enjoyable and sinewy “Conga,” which asks the orchestra to cross a formal line between European symphonic manners and South American dance band spunk. The work affirms Aguila’s gift for contemporary music that is at once cerebral and punchy enough to appeal to even new music skeptics.

Then, Aguila extracted materials from his yet-to-be produced opera “Cuauhtemoc,” which was premiered by the Ojai Camarata at the Ojai Presbyterian Church in Ojai.

Speaking of Ojai, it is there at the beginning of every summer that Ventura County makes its presence known to the international music world. The Ojai Festival took over the town for the 48th time. Returning to the Libbey Bowl where he alighted decades earlier, music Director Michael Tilson Thomas led a weekend that was, by the Ojai Fest standards, surprisingly conservative.

Here, 20th-Century repertoire met the venerable stuff of Brahms, Bach and Schubert, pleasing some--who complain that the Ojai Fest is too modern-minded--and perplexing others who feel that Ojai’s agenda is to give much-needed equal time to contemporary work. The best music came with spicy old/new mergers, such as Lukas Foss’ “Phorion” and Luciano Berio’s “Rendering.”

Looking at the year in jazz in the county, it was a veritable bumper crop. Wheeler Hot Springs continued its pattern of bringing jazz notables to its creekside idyll up Maricopa Highway.

Things got off to a rousing start, with Joe Henderson in January. Also on the 1994 roster were the fine alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, vibist Terry Gibbs, and a reunion of comrades, guitarist Robben Ford and pianist Roger Kellaway, who joined the ranks of artists taking up residence in Ojai this year.

There was jazz activity worth checking out in the lowlands as well, specifically with the regular jazz policy at 66 California in Ventura. The guest list at the 66, sitting in with the in-house support system of Johnny Veith’s trio, was highlighted by stellar L.A.-based sax players Harold Land and Pete Christlieb.

The new jazz club on the block, Friends and Strangers in Ventura, has made a valiant attempt at doing the right thing since its opening in the fall. It’s a fine showcase setting, with a well-equipped stage and sound system, and the musical menu leans toward the funk-groove end of the jazz cosmos.

In the idiomatic cracks, we heard good sounds from Gene Bowen, whose iridescent and pleasantly un-categorized new-world music project “The Vermilion Sea” was released on the Gyroscope label. Bowen has been working on the album, which features his old pal Harold Budd and the gifted Piru-based percussionist John Bergamo, for a few years now, dating back to when he had a home studio in Fillmore.

And what would a musical year in Ventura be without a new piece by Jeff Kaiser? The iconoclastic composer-performer always seems to have a healthy supply of ideas, leaning toward the experimental end of the cultural spectrum.

Besides continuing work with his improvisation-fueled trio, Mahacuisinart, Kaiser staged his electro-acoustic chamber opera “Aurea Catena” at the Odd Fellow’s Lodge in April, keeping to his timetable of presenting a new composition every year.

Whatever one thought of the work’s dense rhetoric, based on alchemical texts, it boasted some of Kaiser’s most striking electronic conjuring yet. It also provided a strong vehicle for soprano Liz Stuart, who moved to San Francisco this year, leaving a vocal void in the area.

In 1994, Ventura County’s musical scene was one of raised curtains and hopes. So much for any lingering notions that this broad stretch of Southland is a cultural wasteland.