Foreign Accent

A new kind of British invasion is underway, on high cultural planes.

Young visual and conceptual artists are making international waves, as seen stateside last fall in the “Sensation” show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

And in the world of new classical music, which at various times appears to be in a state of crisis, some of the key players are of British origin.

A few of the best known of these are coming to our county this weekend, giving this year’s Ojai Festival a distinctly British accent.

Behind it all is Sir Simon Rattle, the famed conductor who has worked extensively with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and who might have been groomed to head that orchestra had he not opted to stay at home and raise his family.

Rattle turned the Birmingham Philharmonic into a world-class ensemble before taking a position as conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Rattle is a perfectly logical choice to direct the Ojai Festival, whose sterling resume of conductor/musical directors includes Stravinsky, Copland, Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Lukas Foss, Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen (last year’s conquering hero) and many others.

Two young and globally respected British composers of note will be in residence, with several of their pieces heard over the course of the weekend’s six concerts.

Thomas Ades arrives hot on the heels of his winning the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for composition this year.

The other visiting composer, Mark-Anthony Turnage, will offer the U.S. premiere of his fascinating jazz-classical opus, “Blood on the Floor,” on the Saturday night program.

Last year the festival’s newly appointed artistic director, Ernest Fleischmann, promised to find a place for jazz in the program, and he has made very good this year with Turnage.

Joining the classical forces will be drummer Peter Erskine, guitarist Mike Miller (replacing John Scofield on the fine Argo recording of the piece) and saxophonist Martin Robertson.

But all is not British. We will also hear two short entries from the world of French opera: Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les Sortileges” and Poulenc’s “Les Mamelles de Tiresias.” The American FLUX quartet assumes the Sunday morning concert slot, with a program chock full of premieres.

Saturday night’s program also includes the premiere of the “Ojai Festival Young Composers ‘Music for Tomorrow’ ” commission, by Naomi Sekiya.

Pianist Gloria Cheng’s first Ojai Festival recital Saturday afternoon leans toward France, with music of Messiaen, Ravel and Boulez, as well as Ades. And bring the entire family to a special Saturday morning concert, including Malcolm McDowell as narrator.

From this vantage point, festival No. 54 looks powerfully enticing.

DETAILS

The Ojai Festival, through Sunday. Tickets range from $10-$65; 646-2053, www.ojaifestival.org.

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Maestro Brott Report: Boris Brott, the founding maestro of our own New West Symphony, which finished its season two weeks ago, is one of those itinerant conductors. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, he wings his way across continents and through Ventura County as a guest conductor and motivational speaker.

This week, Brott was slated to make musical history by conducting Leonard Bernstein’s controversial, ecumenical “Mass at the Vatican,” before Pope John Paul II.

Brott, who was Bernstein’s assistant in the ‘60s, was scheduled to lead the orchestral and choral forces of the Academia Nationale di Santa Cecilia, and American soloists, including Douglas Webster.

The event was filmed for Italian television by no less a cameraman than Carlo Ponti, famed for work with Woody Allen and other directors. In short, it was a spectacle, of spiritual proportions.

Bernstein, who was Jewish, wrote the piece on a request from Jacqueline Kennedy in 1971, for the unveiling of the Kennedy Center in Washington. Using both traditional liturgical texts as well as added material by himself and Stephen Schwartz, Bernstein tried to broaden the scope of the traditional mass. But when he did, he incurred displeasure in some Catholic circles.

Said Brott: “I think maestro Bernstein would have been overjoyed to know that the work will finally be performed at the Vatican. It was his dream that the work be accepted by the Catholic Church.”

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New Sounds From the Fringe: New and experimental music impresarios Jeff Kaiser and Keith McMullen, the brainchildren behind the organization called pfMENTUM, are at it again. For any seekers of new sounds not in Ojai tonight, a concert featuring “found sound” and “found machine” composer Mark Trayle might be just the ticket. He will make his Ventura debut tonight at City Hall.

Trayle, who has studied with Robert Ashley, David Behrman and David Rosenboom, teaches at the Valencia-based CalArts, the haven for experimental musical thinking.

In his case, tools of the noise-making trade include credit card machines, a computerized gramophone and “other artifacts of civilization.” Human musicians are invited to the party, as well: his New-merik Orchestra will include Clay Chaplin on electronics, acoustic bassist Mike Dillon, saxophonist Jesse Gilbert and drummer Harris Eisenstadt.

DETAILS

“The Electro-Acoustic Music of Mark Trayle and the New-merik Orchestra,” 8 p.m. today at Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli St. Tickets are $7, available only at the door.

Josef Woodard, who writes about art and music, can be reached by e-mail at joeinfo@aol.com

Ojai Festival Schedule

(All events at Libbey Bowl)

TODAY

8:15 p.m.: Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic and members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Program--Turnage: Kai (U. S. premiere); Ades: Asyla; Ravel: L’Enfant et les Sortileges.

SATURDAY

10 a.m.: Family concert featuring members of the Santa Barbara Symphony, Jessica Ou and Valerie Lau, piano; and Malcolm McDowell, narrator. Program--Gandolfi: Pinocchio’s Adventures in Funland; Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals.

2:30 p.m.: Recital featuring Gloria Cheng, piano. Program--Messiaen: Mode de valeurs et d’intensites; Ades: Darknesse Visible; Murail: La mandragore; Ravel: Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn; Benjamin: Meditation on Haydn’s Name; Messiaen: Petites esquisses d’oiseaux; Ades: Still Sorrowing; Boulez: Incises; Weir: The Art of Touching the Keyboard; Harvey: Tombeau de Messiaen for piano & tape.

8:30 p.m.: Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, with Peter Erskine, percussion; Mike Miller, guitar; Martin Robertson, saxophone, and Vicki Ray, piano. Program--Sekiya: Deluge (Ojai Festival Young Composers “Music for Tomorrow” award-winning piece); Turnage: Blood on the Floor (U. S. premiere).

SUNDAY

11 a.m.: The FLUX Quartet. Program: Solver: 3, trans. by Slave Pianos (U. S. premiere); Cashian: String Quartet No. 1 (U. S. premiere); Coleman: Poets and Writers (premiere of revised version); Chiu: Collage Series No. 1 (world premiere); Franklin: String Quartet; Gagneux: String Quartet No. 1.

5:30 p.m.: Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic and members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, with Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano; Marietta Simpson, mezzo-soprano; John Aler, tenor; Francois Le Roux, baritone, and Julian Rodescu, bass. Program: Ades: These Premises Are Alarmed; Britten: Four Sea Interludes & Passacaglia from “Peter Grimes”; Poulenc: Les Mamelles de Tiresias.