“Walt Disney Concert Hall, a $274 million fortress of swirling, stainless steel designed by the renowned architect Frank Gehry, is just a little over a mile from Los Angeles’s skid row. But for the thousands of homeless people who move in and out of the missions and shelters or sleep in tents on the trash-strewn streets, it might as well be on the moon.

Vijay Gupta had made it his mission to bridge that gap. The 31-year-old violinist makes a living performing for affluent concertgoers at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The rest of the time, he’s at skid row or county jails, playing for an audience that may never set foot inside Disney Hall. Described as “one of the most radical thinkers in the unradical world of American classical music” by the New Yorker and “the most interesting man in the Phil” by Los Angeles Downtown News, his goal is to bring art and beauty to some of the city’s ugliest places.”

– Antonia Noori Farzan, Washington Post

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