Chris Thile has been named the Music Director for the 81st Ojai Music Festival, to be held June 10–13, 2027. Thile will be making his first Ojai Festival appearance, as will Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner, who are working with him to develop a new version of Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, receiving its world premiere there. Caroline Shaw, whose work was featured during four prior Festivals, will be in residence as composer and performer. "Ojai programs are surprising, revelatory, and affirming of the creative vitality of today’s most talented and searching artists," says Artistic and Executive Director Designate Teddy Abrams. "The 2027 Festival offers this exceptional platform to one of the greatest musical minds I know: Chris Thile is transcendent in the broadest sense, defying genre and reframing the mandolin itself."

Brad Mehldau has announced four live performances of music from Ride into the Sun, his 2025 songbook record of music by Elliott Smith, this summer: three in California in late August, in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Oakland, followed by the Groton Hill Music Center in Massachusetts on September 2. All four performances include singer/mandolinist Chris Thile, bassist John Davis, and drummer Matt Chamberlain, who perform on the album, plus singer/guitarist Blake Mills and a chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman, reprising his album role, here with USC Thornton Chamber Virtuosi in California and A Far Cry chamber orchestra in Groton.