“Vijay Gupta is a violinist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic whose life’s work has been to make music accessible to all…. This year he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship,” report Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Colin Dwyer on Sunday (10/14) at National Public Radio. “Gupta grew up in an immigrant family after his parents came to the U.S. from West Bengal in India…. ‘My dad was 23 and when he came here, he was actually undocumented. He worked in kitchens and worked baggage claim at JFK and somehow music was their refuge,’ Gupta says…. When Gupta was 19, he [secured] a spot in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. That’s when he says he saw Skid Row for the first time…. Gupta went on to found the Street Symphony—a group of musicians that performs in shelters, clinics and jails.… Gupta wants to continue bringing music to those who might not otherwise have access to it, and he says he also wants to tell their stories … ‘to pay attention to … those often across the aisle who are not willing to engage,’ he says.”
In June, Gupta gave a keynote address at the League of American Orchestras’ 2018 Conference. Click here to watch his speech, or to read a transcript.
Posted October 15, 2018
