The Street Symphony, an organization led by the L.A. Philharmonic violinist Vijay Gupta, presented excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah” at the Midnight Mission, in the grim heart of L.A.’s Skid Row. About a hundred homeless people listened intently, and burst into applause at the end. The experience left me with a clash of emotions: joy, shame, sorrow, wonder. I do not know what it meant to those who mattered.

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