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


Early life

(Robert) Vijay Gupta was born in 1987 and grew up in the mid-
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
of
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, near
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. His parents had immigrated from
Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
in the 1970s. At age 7 Gupta enrolled in the pre-college program at the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...
and age 11 he performed solo for the first time with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta. He toured internationally as a soloist and recitalist, performing across the United States, India, Europe and Japan. He enrolled in undergraduate studies at
Mount Saint Mary College Mount Saint Mary College is a private Catholic college in Newburgh, New York. It was founded in 1959 by the Dominican Sisters. The campus overlooks the Hudson River, halfway between New York City and Albany. More than 2,700 men and women are ...
in New York at age 13, initiating coursework towards a degree in pre-medical biology. At 15, he started a 2nd undergraduate degree in
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
performance at the
Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...
, studying under the then concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic,
Glenn Dicterow Glenn Dicterow (born December 23, 1948), is an American violinist and former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He is on the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music where he holds the Jascha ...
. At 17 he earned a BA from
Marist College Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 2003, it became a secular in ...
, in
biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
. Gupta held neurobiology research internships at CUNY Hunter College and the Harvard Institutes of Medicine, studying spinal cord regeneration and the biochemical pathways of Parkinson's Disease. At Harvard, Gupta met Gottfried Schlaug, a researcher and musician studying the impact of music on the brain of aphasic (stroke) patients. Gupta went on to earn an M.M. in 2007 in Violin Performance from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Ani Kavafian. Shortly after graduating from Yale, Gupta won his first orchestral audition and joined the
Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...
in 2007, when he was 19 years old. Gupta became an advocate for the
homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...
of Los Angeles shortly after joining the LA Philharmonic. Gupta joined a group of LA Phil musicians close to
Nathaniel Ayers Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr. (born January 31, 1951) is an American musician. He is the subject of numerous newspaper columns, a book, and a 2009 film adaptation based on the columns. A foundation bearing his name was started in 2008 with an aim ...
a Juilliard-trained double-bassist whose
mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
left him homeless. Gupta met Ayers through
Steve Lopez Steven M. Lopez (born 1953) is an American journalist and four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist who has been a columnist for ''The Los Angeles Times'' since 2001. Life and work Lopez is a native of Pittsburg, California, and attended San Jose Stat ...
, the
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columnist who did a series on Ayers, which became a book and movie called "
The Soloist ''The Soloist'' is a 2009 drama film directed by Joe Wright, and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The plot is based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who developed schizophrenia and became homeless. The film was released i ...
." 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, prisons, shelters and transitional facilities and has presented over 1500 musical performances and workshops, spanning genres of music ranging from classical, choral, jazz, mariachi, reggae and West-African drumming. Every December, the group performs
Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
's "
Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
," with musicians from
skid row A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...
joining with professional musicians to perform. The organization's performances have been highlighted by the LA Times and The New Yorker magazine amongst the most prominent and notable performances in the country. In a 2017 column for the New Yorker, music critic Alex Ross wrote of Gupta, “a visionary violinist... ndone of the most radical thinkers in the unradical world of American classical music. With Street Symphony, he has created a formidable new model for how musical institutions should engage with the world around them.” Ross calls Gupta “a riveting speaker, at once jovial and intense. He talks rapidly, precisely, and with startling candor.” In 2012 Gupta presented a "
TED Talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
" entitled "Between Music and Medicine" which has received millions of views. He was featured in TIME 100 NEXT in 2019. A riveting speaker, Vijay has shared his work with dozens of corporations, campuses, conferences and communities across America over the past 10 years, including The Richmond Forum, The Aspen Institute, Hallmark, Accenture, Mayo Clinic, US Psychiatric Congress, American Planning Association, and the League of American Orchestras, just to name a few. Vijay delivered the 33rd annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy for Americans for the Arts and his 2010 TED Talk, “Music is Medicine, Music is Sanity”, has garnered millions of views. A dynamic recording artist, Vijay recently released Breathe, an album of the piano chamber music of Reena Esmail, under his own label. His solo violin album When the Violin, a solo violin album featuring the music of Esmail, J. S. Bach, and Esa-Pekka Salonen was released under his own label on Bandcamp.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Vijay 1987 births MacArthur Fellows Living people 21st-century classical violinists American classical violinists Male classical violinists American male violinists American musicians of Indian descent Marist College alumni Yale University alumni 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American violinists