Biography
Vijay Gupta is a violinist, speaker, and writer whose work weaves together music, neuroscience, and lived experience to explore how people learn, adapt, and find meaning under pressure.
His work speaks to students at moments of formation, entrepreneurs navigating uncertainty, artists grappling with vocation, and communities seeking repair and belonging. Across classrooms, concert halls, boardrooms, and public forums, Gupta is known for combining intellectual rigor with emotional clarity, offering not motivation alone, but practical ways of thinking about resilience, listening, leadership, and purpose.
“bold, gripping, brilliant”
A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, Gupta is the founder and Artistic Director of Street Symphony, a nationally recognized nonprofit that brings music into shelters, clinics, county jails, state hospitals, and reentry programs across Los Angeles. Since 2011, Street Symphony has presented more than 1,500 performances and workshops, working alongside communities affected by homelessness, addiction, and incarceration. The organization’s work is grounded in the belief that music is not a one-way act of service, but a reciprocal practice that builds dignity, trust, and mutual understanding.
Gupta’s performing career began early. He made his solo debut at age eleven with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta, studied at Juilliard’s Pre-College Division, earned degrees in biology and violin performance, and completed his master’s degree at the Yale School of Music. At nineteen, he became the youngest violinist ever to join the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he performed for twelve seasons. His experience inside one of the world’s leading orchestras continues to inform his work with students, ensembles, and institutions navigating questions of excellence, sustainability, and burnout.
“One of the most radical thinkers in the unradical world of American classical music.”
In addition to his solo and chamber work, Gupta is a founding member of the Darshan Piano Trio and collaborates widely with artists across disciplines. His projects often pair performance with conversation and reflection, creating spaces where audiences are invited to listen more deeply, across differences of culture, profession, and experience.
As a speaker, Gupta has addressed audiences at universities, medical centers, corporations, and public gatherings across the United States, including the Aspen Institute, Mayo Clinic, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Psychiatric Congress, Hallmark, Accenture, and the League of American Orchestras. His three TED Talks have reached millions of viewers worldwide. Whether speaking to students, founders, clinicians, or artists, Gupta is valued for his ability to translate complex ideas into language that is grounded, humane, and immediately useful.
Gupta’s writing explores similar terrain, tracing the connections between practice, purpose, and belonging. His memoir, Restrung, will be published by Grand Central Publishing in 2026.
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