To Our Readers,

What a blur these past few seasons have been for Music Worcester. We’ve swung from sold-out performances with Yo-Yo Ma and Wynton Marsalis in 2019 and 2020, to completely virtual presentations over the 2020–2021 season launched by Joshua Bell, and then to months of distanced seating and public health mandates in effect for the 2021–2022 schedule, led by a double concert weekend with Itzhak Perlman.

Thank you for remaining with us during these periods of oscillating operations and thank you especially for rejoining Music Worcester as we solidify our move to full-year operations with our Summer@MW series. The organization could not have continued its concert presentations, retained staff, or maintained robust activity contracting internationally renowned artists and ensembles without the extraordinary philanthropy of so many donors and area charitable foundations. I wish to express particular gratitude to immediate Past-President of the Board Bob Sorrenti and Treasurer David Mayotte who helped steer Music Worcester through this unprecedented period. Without their encouragement and enthusiasm, we could not convey so many items of interest in this newsletter.

VIJAY GUPTA, VIOLINIST AND HUMANITARIAN

By Adrien C. Finlay

Music Worcester’s Artist-in-Residence program first surfaced as an idea in 2017. I was chatting with pianist Simone Dinnerstein about future engagements, and she mentioned an interest in further developing a concept she had started with an orchestra—one where she used the music of Schumann, Bach, Satie, and others to join together teaching of melody, harmony, and musical patterns with that of shapes and beginning geometry—for elementary schools.

The inaugural educational residency in 2018–2019, where Simone adopted grade-four and -five classrooms at five area elementary schools, came directly from this conversation. It also set Music Worcester on a new path, where we started to think through expanded possibilities of our own community engagement work that was not solely based on one-off school visits or masterclass coaching sessions by artists performing on our main series who might find themselves in Worcester for a day but not much more.

While the pandemic caused a delay in conversations with violinist Vijay Gupta, he quickly became the only possible choice for the second residency. His story is beyond fascinating, being a child prodigy taking lessons at Juilliard and finishing an undergraduate science degree at age nineteen. His musical career is also quite unusual, as he won a highly coveted spot in the LA Philharmonic first violin section, but left the orchestra several years ago to focus on what has become his passion, building community through music. His reputation grew significantly with his selection as a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” recipient in 2018.

And it is indeed what his passion has blossomed into that made him a natural choice for Music Worcester’s Artist-in-Residence. He founded and leads Street Symphony in Los Angeles, a program that serves those struggling with homelessness and former incarceration in and around Skid Row through opportunities and social connection created with music.

His unique perspective as a musiciancitizen of the world, familiar with the most celebrated concert halls worldwide but personally dedicated to using his musical gifts to assist under-resourced populations, is one that has completely informed his year with Music Worcester. He’ll be working with the Worcester Youth Orchestra and has already visited Burncoat Arts Magnet School’s orchestra program several times. He’s also started working with a songwriting program, OpporTUNEity at the Worcester County House of Corrections. In spring 2023, he will seek out connections with area human service organizations for his personal involvement this fall when he returns. These connections are in addition to four public events for Music Worcester audiences that began on March 2 at the new Prior Performing Arts Center at Holy Cross. I sincerely hope that you will experience Vijay Gupta’s artistry with me on May 10 at Mechanics Hall.