Violinist and new MacArthur fellow Vijay Gupta wants skid row work to resonate across the land
LOS ANGELES - Vijay Gupta has left his violin at home today.
Instead, the Los Angeles Philharmonic musician and social justice advocate - whose nonprofit Street Symphony has been performing free concerts for Los Angeles' homeless community and in county jails since 2011 - strolls the trash-strewn, tent-studded sidewalks of downtown's skid row hands-free this afternoon, his arms hanging loose beside him.
But there is still music.
A baseline of rumbling car engines and ambient chatter mixes with the steady, percussive thumping of footsteps and intermittent car horns. There's a guttural moan off to the side, the squeak of a shopping cart wheel and a sudden, vocal shriek in the distance, both disturbing and triumphant-sounding at once. Then comes the crinkle and thud of a crushed, tossed plastic water bottle.
This symphony, more than any other piece of music, is a call to action for Gupta, a recently named 2018 MacArthur fellow who sees his place of prominence in the arts world as an
