(June 7 – 10, 2012) Held 35 miles southeast of Santa Barbara in Ventura County’s Ojai Valley every June, the Ojai Music Festival is a four-day celebration of adventurous classical music. Challenging, eclectic and engaging, the Ojai Music Festival began in 1947 and since then has brought the best in new music and the finest in exceptional interpretation of the classics to its idyllic California setting. The festival has made a tradition of inviting eminent composers, conductors and instrumentalists to serve as music directors, including John Adams, Lukas Foss, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Emanuel Ax. Symposiums at the festival feature scholars, composers and musicians, often discussing the works they perform during the festival. Concert series packages are available at a number of levels, and, for the music lover on a budget, the lawn seats for the entire festival are only around $100 for six concerts and two symposiums – a true deal if there ever was one.