Teddy Abrams named Artistic & Executive Director of California’s Ojai Music Festival

Ara Guzelimian continues as Artistic & Executive Director through 2026 festival with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen

Ojai Music Festival Board Chairman Jerry Eberhardt announced today the appointment of conductor, composer, and pianist Teddy Abrams as Ojai’s next Artistic and Executive Director. This becomes effective on September 1, 2026, and the 81st Festival in June 2027 will be the first under Abrams’s leadership. He will join the ranks of such distinguished predecessors as Thomas W. Morris, Ernest Fleischmann, Lawrence Morton, and present incumbent Ara Guzelimian, who concludes his tenure with the 2026 festival. Abrams’s collaboration with the Ojai Music Festival will be concurrent with his position as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra.

Jerry Eberhardt says:
“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. 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 says:
“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.”

He continues:
“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.”

Ara Guzelimian comments:
“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 glorious festival every success in the years to come.”

Abrams 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.” Now in his twelfth season as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra, he has been the galvanizing force behind the ensemble’s extraordinary artistic renewal and innovative social impact. Among his manifold achievements with the orchestra are recordings, including a Grammy-winning Deutsche Grammophon album that features his own piano concerto for Yuja Wang; 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; and 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. Tomorrow, he and the orchestra begin their 2025–26 season with two weeks devoted to the tour, bringing free concerts to destinations across southeastern Kentucky (Sep 11–20).

A passionate advocate for today’s music, Abrams has commissioned and/or premiered works by more than 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 J. Green, Oswald Hunh, Chelsea Komschlies, Nkeiru Okoye, Tanner Porter, and Tyler Taylor.

Beyond Louisville, Abrams has conducted the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Vancouver, and Phoenix Symphonies; the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; the Buffalo and Los Angeles Philharmonics; Carnegie Hall’s NYO2; and the Minnesota, Florida, and Sarasota Orchestras, all in North America, as well as the Helsinki and Luxembourg Philharmonics and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Europe. He returns to the Minnesota Orchestra and 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.

In summer 2023, Abrams concluded his decade-long tenure as Music Director and Conductor of Oregon’s Britt Festival Orchestra. Recognized for his commitment to making music accessible and deepening community connections, he currently serves as the Aspen Institute Arts Program’s Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence, a platform that invites him to lend his perspective to addressing major social and civic issues.

Abrams is an award-winning composer. As well as the piano concerto for Yuja Wang, his recent compositions for the Louisville Orchestra include Mammoth, premiered with Yo-Yo Ma and Davóne Tines at Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park; Unified Field, a ballet presented with the Louisville Ballet; a fanfare for then-Prince Charles, to commemorate the future king’s visit to Louisville; and The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, a rap opera that premiered with Jecorey Arthur in the title role. Abrams is now at work on the upcoming Broadway musical ALI and, as part of the Emerson Collective Fellowship, an orchestral representation of Kentucky’s history and culture. Abrams’s recording of his piano collection Preludes was released on New Amsterdam Records in 2025.

About Ojai Music Festival
California’s 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. Every year, the festival’s narrative is guided by a different Music Director, whose distinctive perspectives shape programming – ensuring an energized festival year after year. Composer/conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to the Ojai Music Festival to serve as Music Director for the 80th Festival on June 11–14, 2026. Joining him as featured artists will be clarinetist Anthony McGill, Attacca Quartet, the Colburn Orchestra, and LA Phil New Music Group.