The Ojai Music Festival has announced GRAMMY Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and MacArthur Fellow Chris Thile as Music Director for its 81st Festival.

The announcement was made by incoming Artistic and Executive Director Teddy Abrams, who assumes leadership of the Festival on Sept. 1, 2026, succeeding Ara Guzelimian following his 12-year tenure.

The 2027 Festival, which runs from June 10–13, 2027 in Ojai, California, will mark Thile’s first appearance with the organization. Among the headlining events will be the world premiere of an Ojai-commissioned solo mandolin suite by composer Andrew Norman, and a new version of Kurt Weill’s “The Threepenny Opera,” developed by Thile with jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant and pianist Sullivan Fortner, also receiving its world premiere at the Festival.

Composer and violinist Caroline Shaw will return as both composer and performer. Acclaimed bassist and composer Edgar Meyer will make his Festival debut in the same dual capacity. The East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), a self-governing collective drawing from leading orchestras and chamber ensembles, will serve as resident ensemble, also making its Ojai debut.

Abrams described Thile as “a modern Mozart, with boundless energy, limitless improvisational fluency, immense curiosity, and genuine positivity,” adding that the 2027 Festival “should be a historic marker for the mandolin redefining how the instrument can be utilized by composers of our day.” The Festival is commissioning several composers to develop new repertoire for the instrument, with further details to be announced in fall 2026.

“For adventurous musicians and concertgoers, the Ojai Festival is a kind of Atlantis; emerging annually to remind us that our wildest hopes and dreams of music that expands our world – and a world that expands our music – are not only possible, but waiting for us, one step ahead of summer, the sea, and anything we’ve heard before,” said Thile, per an official press release. “I pinched myself all through the call where Teddy Abrams asked if I would consider being the music director for the 2027 edition. A mandate to share music and musicians who have challenged and changed my perception of what great music can be/do with a community of listeners who crave exactly that in a performance experience? YES, PLEASE.

A founding member of Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, Thile has collaborated with artists ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to Fiona Apple to Brad Mehldau, and previously hosted the public radio program “Live from Here.”

The 80th Ojai Music Festival, with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, takes place June 11–14, 2026.

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