Ojai Festival to Emphasize a Flavor of Finland

In a departure from the more traditional thrust of recent years, the 53rd Ojai Music Festival will present a mostly 20th century program with emphasis on the achievement of Finland--a country with 5 million people, 29 orchestras and a major presence on the world music scene.

The event will run June 2-6--two days longer than usual. Magnus Lindberg, a prominent Finnish composer, is composer-in-residence. Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will serve as music director, leading the orchestra and its New Music Group for three of the eight concerts.

Among the highlights: world premieres of “Sappho Fragments,” a song cycle that Salonen composed for soprano Dawn Upshaw, and Oliver Knussen’s “Rough Cut,” played by the Toimii Ensemble, which includes Salonen and Lindberg. Also on the program are four U.S. premieres: a new cello concerto and “Kraft” by Lindberg; Luciano Berio’s “Kol-Od” for trumpet and ensemble; and Salonen’s “Giro,” for orchestra.

“This festival aims to play the best of new music as well as older music that isn’t played that often,” explains artistic director Ernest Fleischmann, former managing director of the Philharmonic, beginning his second year at Ojai. “It’s unusual in its repertory. Unusual in that it takes place in a tiny town with a population of under 10,000. New music, they say, is a tougher sell--but advance ticket sales this year are the highest ever.”

Focusing on Finland was the brainchild of Finnish-born Salonen, fulfilling a long-standing dream of uniting artists from his homeland.

“I don’t see myself as a salesman of Finnish culture,” Salonen said Wednesday. “These are people I’d work with no matter what country they come from. Still, there is obviously a special aspect to all this. Magnus Lindberg and I practically grew up together, and others in the Toimii ensemble I’ve known since I was a teen. It’s nice to be performing with friends.”

The program contains two recitals, one on June 5 with Helsinki-born pianist Olli Mustonen performing preludes and fugues by Bach and Shostakovich, and a program of songs with Upshaw on June 6. The family event for this year is “Toimii Goes Opera,” introduced and directed by Salonen. In a return to earlier days, a play is on the agenda: the Finnish-themed “Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti” by Bertolt Brecht. Ceramics and glassworks by Finnish artists will be on display at the Ojai Arts Center, which will also host a poetry reading.

As for future events, Fleischmann says the possibilities are endless: He’d like to add additional days should ticket sales warrant. He wants to build a better orchestra shell. And he’s already put out feelers for the creation of an Ojai Jazz Festival to be held late September 2000.

“Wonderful things have been done at the festival, but you can’t rest on existing laurels,” he says. “Bold new steps need to be taken--it’s all a question of money.”

* Ojai Music Festival, 201 S. Signal St., Ojai. June 2-6. Tickets on sale now: $5-$42; (805) 646-2053.