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This week Gil Shaham and Violinist.com editor Laurie Niles talk with Los Angeles violinist Vijay Gupta, 2018 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Grant who also founded "Street Symphony" to bring music performances and education to homeless and incarcerated communities. He'll play a gorgeous new piece, "When the Violin," by LA-based composer Reena Esmail. Colburn student John Fawcett will play one of the most difficult pieces in all the repertoire, the "Last Rose of Summer" by Wilhelm Ernst. And our youngest guest so far, Claire Oviedo, will play "Andantino" from Suzuki Book 1, and talk to us about her very impressive practice streak of 342 consecutive days!

Our guests this week include Stuart Duncan, a Grammy-winning American bluegrass musician who plays not only the fiddle but also mandolin, guitar, and banjo - and he sings vocals. He has performed with Diana Krall, George Strait, Dolly Parton, Guy Clark, Reba McEntire, and Barbra Streisand, among many others. A longtime member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band, he most recently collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer for album called "Not Our First Goat Rodeo, a followup to their 2011 "Goat Rodeo Sessions" album. Stuart will play "The New Democracy," which can also be heard on the Nashville Bluegrass Band's 1991 album "Home of the Blues."   Kaylah Walker, 14, from Virginia Beach, Virginia, a violinist whose teachers have included Christina Morton and Jeannie DeDominick. A winner of several concerto competitions, Kaylah is also involved in musical theatre, having been cast in lead roles in the Wizard of Oz and The Addams Family at her school, Cape Henry Collegiate. She will play the first movement of de Beriot's Concerto No. 7 for Violin.  The Stars Aligned Siblings - a very young quartet from San Pablo, Calif. Members are all siblings from the Breshears family: violinists Dustin, 13, and Valery, 11; cellist Starla, 12; and violist Colin, 8. Their teacher is Ayke Agus, who has been schooling them in the traditions of her own teacher, Jascha Heifetz. The siblings have already taken their show on the road, touring  United Kingdom, Argentina, Mexico, and in the United States and appearing in festivals, broadcasts and competitions, where they have won numerous awards. They will play the first movement of Beethoven's Quartet, Op. 18, No. 6.

Welcome to the happiest hour of violin talk online, with your hosts Gil Shaham and Violinist.com editor Laurie Niles. Our guests this week include:  Kelly Hall-Tompkins, an award-winning classical soloist who also was the "Fiddler" in the Broadway production of "Fiddler on the Roof" for more than 400 performances. She will perform a selection from her album, "The Fiddler Expanding Tradition."  Jasmine Li, 13, from Los Angeles, a student of Margaret Lysy at the Sol La Music Academy. She will play the first movement from Kabalevsky's Concerto in C Major Violin - accompanied by herself.  Samantha Washecka, 15, from Round Rock, Texas. She is a student of William Fedkenheuer of the Miró Quartet. She will perform "Banjo and Fiddle" by William Kroll.

This week, virtuoso Hungarian Gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos and his Ensemble will perform a piece called "Tic Tac."  Rabia Brooke will play an excerpt from Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2. She just completed her freshman year at The Juilliard School, where she is a student of Catherine Cho.  Yugo Maeda, 8, from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif, will play the "Preludio" from Partita No. 3 by J.S. Bach. He is a student of Gail Gerding Mellert.

Hosts Gil Shaham and Laurie Niles welcome master teacher Kurt Sassmannshaus, founder of ViolinMasterclass.com and professor of violin at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, as well as London-based violinist Roberts Balanas, 25, whose virtuoso rendition of Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" recently went viral and who will premiere his arrangement of AC/DC's "Back in Black." We'll also hear from Claire Lee, 10, from Farmington, Connecticut and a student of Christie Felsing, who will play Rameau's "Gavotte" for us.

Join hosts Gil Shaham and Laurie Niles for another episode of Gilharmonic on Violinist.com - the happiest hour of violin talk online! 

Our guest artist this week is violinist Tessa Lark, who is both a classical and bluegrass virtuoso and will be joining us from NYC. Just this year she was nominated for a Grammy for her recording of "Sky," a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto composed for her by Michael Torke. She will perform the last movement from Ysaÿe's Sonata No. 4 - and possibly some improvisation!  

Our two master class students include:  Grant Jensen, 10, from Santa Monica, California, a student of Morgan Gerstmar. He is a Suzuki student who also plays in Santa Monica's Elemental Strings Orchestra. He will play "Gavotte" by Martini.  Faustina Housner, who just finished her freshman year at the Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, studying with Kathleen Winkler. She will play selections from Béla Bartók's "Rumanian Folk Dances."

Our guest artist this week is violinist and former Sphinx laureate Elena Urioste, who will join us from her flat in London. She and violinist Melissa White also are the founders of a yoga program for musicians called Intermission, and in August she will host a virtual Chamber Music by the Sea. Elena and her husband Tom Poster will perform "Un Sonnet d’Amour" from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Petite Suite de Concert, Op. 77.  

Our two master class students include:  Vaishi Sharma, 14, from Aurora, Ill, a student of Ann Montzka Smelser. She has played in the Elgin Youth Symphony and next year will play in the Chicago Youth Symphony. She will play the first movement "Largo" from Henry Eccles' Sonata in G minor.  Elizabeth Wei, who just finished her freshman year at the University of Southern California, studying with Lina Bahn. She will play an except from Max Bruch's "Scottish Fantasie."

We welcome Suzuki student Joanne Zhu (age 6!), University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music student KayCee Galano, and special guest artist, gypsy jazz violinist Jason Anick, who teaches at Berklee College of Music.