Join us as we talk with the Ojai Music Festival’s Bravo Education Coordinator Laura Walter on planting the seeds of musical creativity, and what’s coming up for young performers this spring and summer

In this episode of Ojai Talk of the Town, we sit down with Laura Walter, the inspiring force behind the Bravo! education program at the Ojai Music Festival for decades. Laura shares how elementary students across the valley are being introduced to music through hands-on, joyful experiences—and how those early encounters are shaping lives.

She also spotlights the upcoming SCORE program performance, directed by Caitlin Praetorius and Bill Wagner, where student-composed works take the stage. Don’t miss this showcase of young talent on Sunday, May 19 at 7 p.m. at Nordhoff High School.

And for those budding musicians eager to keep the rhythm going, Laura gives us the scoop on two summer music camps running June 23–28 and August 11–16, held weekday mornings from 8 a.m. to noon at the Ojai Presbyterian Church. These programs, offered in partnership with the Ojai Recreation Department, continue the Festival’s mission of bringing the joy of music to the next generation.

We also talked about her youth in a music family of 8 in Michigan, going to college in Kentucky, her lifelong love of play as it pertains to learning, and much more. We did not talk about the second consecutive Pope from the western hemisphere, the overuse of peppercorns in many steaks au poivre or Gibbons' insights into the early Ottoman Empire.

Tune in for a conversation filled with harmony, heart, and the promise of a bright musical future for Ojai’s youth. For more information, check out OjaiFestival.org (the beloved cultural institution returns this year June 5-8).