VIJAY GUPTA
ETSU’s 2026 Festival of Ideas
Sponsored by The Bob Owens Community Leadership Fund
February 24, 2026 • 7:00 pmInternationally celebrated musician, speaker and author
Vijay Gupta will headline East Tennessee State University’s 2026 Festival of Ideas with a public presentation combining music and conversation titled “Why Music Education is Essential.”
Gupta is the founder and Artistic Director of Street Symphony, a Los Angeles–based nonprofit that has presented thousands of musical workshops and performances in shelters, county jails, state hospitals and prisons.
Through this work, he has forged spaces of dignity and belonging for individuals recovering from homelessness, addiction and incarceration.
Gupta’s forthcoming book, “Restrung” — now available for pre-order—examines the role of the arts to heal, inspire and create spaces of shared dialogue. His work has been featured by the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Congress, Hallmark, and the Richmond Forum, among many others.
A member of the first violin section of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 12 years, Gupta has appeared around the world as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He is a founding member of the Darshan Piano Trio and Tesserae Baroque, and his recordings span repertoire from Bach to contemporary works.
