UCSB Arts & Lectures will present Vijay Gupta in Conversation with Pico Iyer on The Healing Power of Music, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 at Campbell Hall. The performance is part of the Speaking with Pico series, featured in the 2021-2022 CREATING HOPE programming initiative.
The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Gupta is a celebrated violinist, speaker and citizen artist devoted to creating spaces of wholeness through music. He is the founder of Street Symphony, an L.A.-based nonprofit that brings music to homeless and incarcerated communities, and co-founder of the Skid Row Arts Alliance.
Gupta has performed as a recitalist, soloist, chamber and orchestral musician for some 20 years. His TED Talk, “Music is Medicine, Music is Sanity,” has garnered millions of views.
Gupta will be joined by author and interviewer Iyer, who is known for conducting inspiring conversations with today’s top thinkers and innovators. Since 1982 Iyer has been a full-time writer, publishing 15 books, translated into 23 languages, on subjects ranging from the Dalai Lama to globalism, from the Cuban Revolution to Islamic mysticism.
Gupta’s work embodies his belief that the work of artists and citizens is one: to make a sadhana — a daily practice — of the world we envision. He is hailed by The New Yorker as a “visionary violinist … one of the most radical thinkers in the unradical world of American classical music.”
Gupta has shared his work with 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.
He delivered the 33rd annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy for Americans for the Arts.
As a violinist, Gupta played his solo debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta. He was a member of the first violin section of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 12 years, and has collaborated with the Kronos Quartet, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and Yo-Yo Ma.
A recording artist as well, Gupta recently released “Breathe,” an album of the piano chamber music of Reena Esmail, under his own label. He currently serves as the senior artistic and programs advisor for Young Musicians Foundation. Gupta holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Marist College, and a master’s in music from the Yale School of Music.
The presentation is part of the UCSB A&L Speaking with Pico series. Cost to attend ranges from $25-$435 for the general public; free to UCSB students with current student ID required. For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
UCSB Arts & Lectures acknowledges Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli for their support of the 2021-22 season.