On paper, pairing the poetry of 14th-century poet Hafiz, a Sufi mystic, with the music of Bach, a 17th-century German classical music composer, seems a bit of a stretch.
Until you take a deep dive into what Hafiz was saying about the power of forgiveness and mercy, and what Bach was going through when he penned Partita No. 2 in D minor and its powerfully emotional Chaconne.
“In 1720, I’m sure (Bach) was thinking about forgiveness and grief because that’s the year that his wife died, and he really loved her,” said violinist Vijay Gupta.
Gupta bookended Reena Esmail’s “When the Violin” based on Hafiz’s poetry with Bach’s Partita No. 2 and Sonata No. 3 in C major.
He brings the concert to Tucson on Sunday, June 29, as part of the 2025 St. Andrew’s Bach Society series.
American-Indian composer Esmail, who is married to Gupta, originally penned “When the Violin” for cello and voice based on Hafiz’s “The Gift,” as translated by Daniel Ladinsky. The text talks about forgiveness and sorrow and healing.
When everything went virtual during the pandemic, Gupta said, he begged his wife to compose a solo violin version for him.
Gupta said it was through exchanging letters with Ladinsky several years ago that he connected the dots between Hafiz and Bach.
“He said, ‘You know, the real instrument of forgiveness is the human being, right? Like we’re the instrument that sings a new song of forgiveness into being’,” he explained during a phone call from home in Los Angeles early this week. “It’s a song of self mercy, truly, and then as that song comes through us, it emanates into the world and creates a new way of being. And so it just felt so right to program ‘When the Violin’ alongside these works of Bach.”
Sunday’s concert also includes a collaboration with dancer Yamini Kalluri, classically trained in Indian Kuchipudi dance and the Martha Graham technique.
“She’s just one of the most exciting artists I’ve ever worked with in my life,” said Gupta.
Gupta and Esmail’s paths crossed with Kalluri after the dancer tagged Esmail in a social media post of a dance she had created for one of the composer’s pieces.
“I love this music and I’m choreographing it,” the post said, according to Gupta, who said he and his wife reached out to Kalluri, “and it just totally took off from there.” The trio has been collaborating since 2022 and developed the “When the Violin” program in 2023.
Kalluri also will perform choreography she composed for Bach’s Partita.
Gupta said that while Bach didn’t intend for the Partita or Sonata to have dancers, “watching a phrase become embodied in the body of a dancer teaches me how to phrase that line more humanely, more beautifully.”
“I literally have to wait or speed up or change my pacing based on her body. And so first of all, that takes me out of my head; it makes playing Bach’s music so much more fun,” he said.
Sunday’s concert begins at 2 p.m. at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St. Tickets are $16 through standrewsbach.org.
About Vijay Gupta: He was just 19 when he won a spot on the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the youngest musician to get a spot on a top-tier American orchestra.
In 2010, he founded ”Street Symphony,” a nonprofit organization that provides “musical engagement, dialogue and teaching artistry” for Los Angeles homeless and incarcerated communities. The group performs quarterly concerts and an annual “Messiah” sing-along.
Gupta was 13 when he enrolled in Mount Saint Mary College in New York to work on a pre-medical biology degree; “I’m an Indian kid whose last name is Gupta, right? So I was supposed to be a doctor,” he joked.
Two years later, he started his second undergraduate degree in violin performance at the Manhattan School of Music. He was just 17 when he earned his BA in biology from Marist College. He also earned a master’s degree from Yale School of Music in violin performance.
In 2018, he was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Grant.
