Choreographer/dancer Yamini Kalluri joins violinist Vijay Gupta for “When the Violin,” a mix of movement and music blending works by Reena Esmail and J.S. Bach with modern and traditional Kuchipudi dance, one night only on Saturday, June 21, 2025, 7:30 pm, at Sierra Madre Playhouse.
The program takes its title from the opening work, Esmail’s When the Violin for unaccompanied violin, featuring both Gupta and Kalluri. Originally composed for choir and obligato violin or cello, Esmail subsequently adapted it for solo violin specifically for Gupta, creating a more intimate version that could be performed remotely during COVID-19. Gupta premiered the work online in June 2020. The Strad proclaimed When the Violin “haunting and utterly beautiful.”
Esmail says, “This piece is about that first moment of trust, of softening. About the most inward moments of the human experience, of realizing that ‘breakthroughs’ often don’t have the hard edge, the burst of energy that the word implies, but that they can be about finding tender, warm, deeply resonant spaces within ourselves as well.”
Gupta and Kalluri also perform the Adagio, Fuga, Siciliana and Presto movements from J.S. Bach’s virtuosic Sonata in G minor BWV 1001. A technical marvel, it transitions from grand and improvisatory to wistful and lilting, ending with a whirlwind of perpetual motion.
Kalluri, a deeply traditional Kuchipudi dancer based in New York City, also embraces the avant-garde. This celebrated Indian classical dance artist, renowned for her grace, lines, agility, and uncompromising quest for perfection, re-frames and highlights Kuchipudi in a global context.
Gupta is a violinist, speaker and author, leading a protean career as a performer, curator, and thought leader. As the founding artistic director of Street Symphony, Gupta is a nationally celebrated leader in how music can be a transformative force for humanity, connection, and hope. From prisons, county jails, and LA’s Skid Row to concert halls, campuses, and companies across the world, Gupta’s work is the embodiment of the generous, generative power of music to heal. Gupta has performed as an international recitalist, soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician for over 20 years, making his solo debut at age 11 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta. Gupta won his first orchestral audition and joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007, when he was 19 years old – the youngest violinist to ever join a top-tier American orchestra – where he remained for 12 years. Increasingly in demand as a soloist, curator, and chamber musician, Gupta has collaborated with the artists from the Kronos Quartet and Yo-Yo Ma to folk music legend Pete Seeger.
For tickets ($12-$35) and information, please call 626.355.4318 or visit www.sierramadreplayhouse.org. Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre, CA 91024.