The Wallis Presents INDIA & THE WEST: COMPOSITIONS & CONVERSATIONS

The Wallis Presents Los Angeles artists VIJAY GUPTA and REENA ESMAIL as well as Peter Myers and SUZANA BARTAL in INDIA & THE WEST: COMPOSITIONS & CONVERSATIONS, an evening of chamber music and cross-culture dialogue centered on the great musical traditions of India and the West on Saturday, February 15, 2020, 7:30 pm, in The Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater. The concert features original works by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail performed by violinist Vijay Gupta, cellist Peter Myers and pianist Suzana Bartal, including DARSHAN for solo violin, movement 3; JHULA JHULE for violin and piano; SAANS for piano trio; VARSHA for solo cello and PIANO TRIO.

According to Esmail, "My mission involves joining communities with one another through music by creating spaces where cross-cultural dialogue can begin. As I grew up bilingual in English and Gujarati, I felt drawn to explore the connection between these two sides of myself through the lens of music which occupies different areas of the same musical space, coexists beautifully and overlaps without detracting from one another."

MacArthur "Genius" Gupta, an esteemed performer, communicator, and citizen-artist, is a leading advocate for the role of the arts and music to heal, inspire, provoke change, and foster social connection. After joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 19 and serving as a member of the first violin section through 2018, he founded Street Symphony and serves as Artistic Director of the non-profit organization, which provides musical engagement, dialogue and teaching artistry for homeless and incarcerated communities in Los Angeles. New Yorker critic Alex Ross has described Gupta as "one of the most radical thinkers in the unradical world of American classical music" and Time magazine selected Gupta as one of their Time 100 NEXT list of rising stars who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, science, health and more.

"Vijay Gupta and Reena Esmail are two L.A.-based, but internationally acclaimed, artists who have collaborated to create a unique evening of work for us at The Wallis that beautifully connects two cross-cultural musical languages," says The Wallis' Artistic Director, Paul Crewes. "I am very excited to be working alongside these two wonderful, game-changing artists."

Tickets, $29 to $59 (prices subject to change), are available at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills. To purchase tickets and for more information, please call 310-746-4000 or visit TheWallis.org/IndiaAndTheWest.

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