On Wednesday, May 31st from 7:00-8:30 pm, join Bart's Books and Ojai Music Festival Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian for an after-dinner dessert and listening session in the courtyard of Bart's Books.

RSVP HERE for After Hours with Ara at Bart’s Books

Ara will be sharing about the concerts and artists on the lineup this year at the Ojai Music Festival. This is the perfect opportunity to plan your Ojai Music Festival weekend schedule and purchase tickets!

Bart's will be selling copies of Omar ibn Said's autobiography, the book behind Omar’s Journey, an Ojai commissioned suite for voices and chamber ensemble drawn from the opera Omar by this year's festival director Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels with Giddens (soprano) singing the role of Julie.

For seven decades, the Ojai Music Festival has been a laboratory for the special chemistry that results from combining insatiable curiosity with unbounded creativity. The formula is simple: Each year a music director is given the freedom and resources to imagine four days of musical brainstorming. Some have approached their task with caution, fearing that Ojai might be like other places. But, of course, it’s not. More often this unique blend of enchanted setting and an audience voracious in its appetite for challenge and discovery has inspired a distinguished series of conductors, performers, composers to push at boundaries and stretch limits.

Bart’s Books is the world’s largest outdoor bookstore, serving the Ojai community since 1964. We believe that there is a book for everyone, and that reading is the catalyst for a connection amongst passionate people. Bart’s hosts a collection of over 130,000 used and new books, ranging from rare out-of-print gems to well loved paperbacks. Our curated event series brings authors to our courtyard for engaging discussions and readings. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on our courtyard event offerings here!