Vijay Gupta

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For the Bengali poet, see Vijay Gupta (poet).

Robert Vijay Gupta (born 1987) is a violinist, and advocate for social justice.[1] He is a 2018 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Grant.[2][3]

Early life[]

Robert Vijay Gupta was born in 1987 and grew up near New York City. His parents had immigrated from India in the 1970s. At age 7 Gupta enrolled in the pre-college program at the Juilliard School and age 11 he performed solo for the first time with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. At 17 he earned a BA from Marist College, in biology. He earned an M.M. in 2007 from Yale University.[4] Gupta did an internship at Harvard, in a medical lab. He joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007, when he was 19 years old.[2]

Gupta became an advocate for the homeless shortly after joining the LA Philharmonic. Gupta began to teach Nathaniel Ayers on the violin, who was a Juilliard-trained double-bassist whose mental illness left him homeless. Gupta met Ayers through Steve Lopez, the Los Angeles Times columnist who did a series on Ayers, which became a book and movie called "The Soloist."[4][5]

In 2010 Gupta founded ”Street Symphony”, a non-profit organization providing musical engagement, dialogue and teaching artistry for homeless and incarcerated communities in Los Angeles. The organization performs at jails, shelters and transitional facilities. Every December the group performs Handel's "Messiah," with musicians from skid row joining with professional musicians to perform.[2] In 2012 Gupta presented a "TED Talk" entitled "Between Music and Medicine."[6] In 2017 Gupta was given the "Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society."[1] Gupta was the keynote speaker at the 2019 National Planning Conference in San Francisco.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Niles, Laurie (March 13, 2017). "LA Phil Violinist Vijay Gupta to Receive Bernstein Award". Violinist.com. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Farzan, Antonia Noori (October 5, 2018). "Vijay Gupta: The violinist for LA's skid row wins a MacArthur 'genius' grant". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  3. ^ Vankin, Deborah. "The MacArthur Foundation reveals its 'eclectic class' of 2018 fellows, including a skid row violinist and a visionary neuroscientist". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "LA Phil Violinist Vijay Gupta Named 2018 MacArthur Foundation 'Genius' Grant Winner". Violinist.com. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  5. ^ Miller, Sarah Bryan. "Bringing music to those who need it: Vijay Gupta on Street Symphony". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  6. ^ "Robert Gupta: Between music and medicine". YouTube. TED. October 2, 2012.
  7. ^ "Opening Keynote Session". American Planning Association. September 13, 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
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