Vijay Gupta: A Violinist on a Mission

Close Read Passage, 601 words, Biography (nonfiction), Problem and Solution, Level Z2 (Grade 6), Lexile 1000L

Vijay Gupta has dedicated his life to making music a platform for social change. In 2007, at the age of nineteen, Gupta moved to California to join the Los Angeles Philharmonic as its youngest musician. Gupta realized that the Philharmonic was next door to Skid Row, an area with a large homeless population. In 2011, Gupta established an outreach program called Street Symphony. It started as a means to provide free concerts to homeless people and grew into an advocacy group. In 2019 Gupta left the Philharmonic to devote his time to the work of Street Symphony.

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