Violinist Vijay Gupta — a former Los Angeles Philharmonic player, founder of the nonprofit Street Symphony and a MacArthur Fellowship awardee — takes the stage at Sierra Madre Playhouse on Friday, June 12 at 8 p.m. for an evening that blends candid talk and live music in honor of his new memoir, “Restrung.”
Gupta joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 19, the youngest violinist ever to do so at a top-tier American orchestra, and remained there for 12 years. In 2011 he founded Street Symphony, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that brings world-class musicians into shelters, county jails and clinics across Los Angeles, including extensive work on Skid Row. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship — often called a “genius grant” — in 2018.
The Sierra Madre evening will open with Gupta in conversation, sharing parts of his story: his childhood as a prodigy in a Bengali American family, his burnout and collapse as a young orchestral musician, and the way playing with people on Skid Row reshaped his understanding of what music is for. He then takes up the violin for a performance that, according to the venue, will feature pieces resonating with introspection, rhythmic vitality and emotional transparency. A Q&A and book signing follow.
The event is part of Sierra Madre Playhouse’s inaugural authors series. Tickets are $35 and include a copy of “Restrung,” which publishes June 9 from Knopf. Gupta has been interviewed widely about Street Symphony’s work — including by NPR — and described by The New Yorker as a “visionary violinist.”
The Playhouse, a 99-seat venue with strong acoustics for solo work, offers an intimate setting closer to a salon than a concert hall.
Vijay Gupta: Restrung — A Talk and Concert will run on Friday, June 12 at 8 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., in Sierra Madre. For more information and tickets, call (626) 355-4318 or visit https://www.google.com/url?q=
