Black Violin marks 20 years of remixing music history onstage in Orlando

Black Violin, the duo raised on a mix of Mozart and hip-hop modernity, have been remixing and reimagining music history for two decades.

The creative partnership of violinist Kev Marcus and viola player Wil Baptiste evolved from high-school orchestra classes together in Fort Lauderdale to award-winning wielders of stringed instruments. They first made their unique presence known to the music world by winning Showtime at the Apollo in 2005. NPR duly dubbed the band as essential to keeping “classical music alive for the next generation” after a series of sold-out performances at the Kennedy Center.

But the journey wasn’t always as smooth as the resonant tones of the violas and violins Baptiste and Marcus wield — meshing such seemingly disparate and perhaps perceptually oppositional genres as hip-hop and classical took a long leap of faith.

“The stereotypes are always there, embedded so deep in our culture,” Baptiste says. “Just by nature of our existence we challenge those ideas. It’s a unique thing that brings people together who usually aren’t in the same room; and in the current climate, it’s good to bring people together.”

The pair want to go beyond just making challenging music, though. After breaking down plenty of genre-based barriers during their musical journey, Baptiste and Marcus tackled a new cause. In 2019 they launched Black Violin Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access for youth — especially youth of color — to quality music education.

“We want every young student that is in our audience not to just go be a violinist because I’m a violinist,” Marcus recently told Aspen Public Radio. “It’s like: What is it that you love to do? What makes you tick?”

Many of Marcus’ and Baptiste’s performances today are for young students in low-income communities, where they combat stereotypes and challenge the notion of what a classical musician can look like. The pair played for more than 10,000 students in the last year alone, proving to youngsters across the nation you can enjoy Beethoven and Big Boi.

“I think we’ve made a fantastic career off that preconception,” Marcus said in conversation with The Public’s Radio this spring.“Every night we get to go through this process of just show- ing a group of people something that they’ve never seen before and never heard before, and it’s awesome.”

“My favorite part of being a violinist is that I’m not supposed to do it,” Marcus added.
In Marcus’ life, he has felt the profound impact of representation and how it can fuel the next generation of greats. On his first day at Florida International University, Marcus’ professor gave him a tape of Stuff Smith’s Black Violin — a 1972 album that deeply resonated with and inspired him.

Marcus and Baptiste would eventually take Smith’s album name as their own, a nod to the past and a mission statement of who they are and what they’re here to do. The group continues today, after 20 years of bridging the gap between classical and popular music.

“It was hard, definitely, at the beginning, 20 years ago, you know, trying to convince people, like, ‘Hey I got these two Black guys that play classical — but they do it on hip-hop,’” Marcus said to Aspen Public Radio. But the challenge was well worth it.

The pair comes to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Monday, Nov. 18 — joined onstage by bandmates Nat Stokes on drums, DJ SPS on the turntables and keyboardist Liston Gregory — for “BV20: Then and Now,” a journey through the duo’s musical life. Expect the hits, expect new music, expect “revitalized classics.”

“Fans can expect us to illustrate our journey from high school to headliner, and we plan to celebrate all of it: ‘Then and Now,’” promised Marcus. “We want our fans to feel energized, inspired, and more driven to chase their dreams.”

We highly recommend that you get up out of your seats and dance.

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This article appears in Nov 13-19, 2024.