One day Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez was walking along the streets of downtown Los Angeles when he heard beautiful music .
And the source was a man , an African-American man , charming , rugged , homeless , playing a violin that only had two strings .
And I 'm telling a story that many of you know , because Steve 's columns became the basis for a book , which was turned into a movie , with Robert Downey Jr acting as Steve Lopez , and Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers , the Juilliard-trained double bassist whose promising career was cut short by a tragic affliction with paranoid schizophrenia .
Nathaniel dropped out of Juilliard , he suffered a complete breakdown , and 30 years later he was living homeless on the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles .
I encourage all of you to read Steve 's book , or to watch the movie to understand not only the beautiful bond that formed between these two men , but how music helped shape that bond , and ultimately was instrumental , if you 'll pardon the pun , in helping Nathaniel get off the streets .
I met Mr. Ayers in 2008 , two years ago , at Walt Disney concert hall .
He had just heard a performance of Beethoven 's first and fourth symphonies , and came backstage and introduced himself .
He was speaking in a very jovial and gregarious way about Yo-Yo Ma and Hillary Clinton , and how the Dodgers were never going to make the World Series , all because of the treacherous first violin passage work in the last movement in Beethoven 's fourth symphony .
And we got talking about music .
And I got an email from Steve a few days later saying that Nathaniel was interested in a violin lesson with me .
Now , I should mention that Nathaniel refuses treatment because when he was treated it was with shock therapy and Thorazine and handcuffs , and that scar has stayed with him for his entire life .
But , as a result now , he is prone to these schizophrenic episodes .
The worst of which can manifest themselves as him exploding , and then disappearing for days , wandering the streets of Skid Row , exposed to its horrors , with the torment of his own mind unleashed upon him .
And Nathaniel was in such a state of agitation when we started our first lesson at Walt Disney Concert Hall he had a kind of manic glint in his eyes , he was lost .
And he was talking about invisible demons and smoke , and how someone was poisoning him in his sleep .
And I was afraid , not for myself , but I was afraid that I was going to lose him , that he was going to sink into one of his states , and that I would ruin his relationship with the violin if I started talking about scales and arpeggios and other exciting forms of didactic violin pedagogy .
So , I just started playing .
And I played the first movement of the Beethoven violin concerto .
And as I played I understood that there was a profound change occurring in Nathaniel 's eyes .
It was as if he was in the grip of some invisible pharmaceutical , a chemical reaction , for which my playing the music was its catalyst .
And Nathaniel 's manic rage was transformed into understanding , a quiet curiosity , and grace .
And in a miracle , he lifted his own violin , and he started playing , by ear , certain snippets of violin concertos which he then asked me to complete , Mendelssohn , Tchaikovsky , Sibelius .
And we started talking about music , from Bach to Beethoven , and Brahms , Bruckner , all the B 's , from Bartók , all the way up to Esa-Pekka Salonen .
And I understood that he not only had an encyclopedic knowledge of music , but he related to this music at a personal level .
He spoke about it with the kind of passion and understanding that I share with my colleagues in the Los Angeles Philharmonic .
And through playing music and talking about music this man had transformed from the paranoid , disturbed man that had just come from walking the streets of downtown Los Angeles , to the charming , erudite , brilliant , Juilliard-trained musician .
Music is medicine .
Music changes us .
And for Nathaniel , music is sanity .
Because music allows him to take his thoughts and delusions , and shape them through his imagination and his creativity , into reality .
And that is an escape from his tormented state .
And I understood that this was the very essence of art .
This was the very reason why we made music , that we take something that exists within all of us , at our very fundamental core , our emotions , and through our artistic lens , through our creativity , we 're able to shape those emotions into reality .
And the reality of that expression reaches all of us , and moves us , inspires and unites us .
And for Nathaniel , music brought him back into a fold of friends .
The redemptive power of music brought him back into a family of musicians that understood him , that recognized his talents and respected him .
And I will always make music with Nathaniel , whether we 're at Walt Disney Concert Hall , or on Skid Row , because he reminds me why I became a musician .
Thank you .
Thank you .
Thanks .
Robert Gupta .
I want to play something that I shamelessly stole from cellists .
So , please forgive me .