Beaking down barriers, building bridges
ALBANY — The two-time Grammy-nominated duo Black Violin will take center stage at the Palace Theatre in Albany on March 29. Building bridges between past and present music that invite the audience to a place where Marvin Gaye and Mozart harmoniously coexist, Kev Marcus will give an electrifying violin performance along with Wil Baptiste’s innovative viola and vocal performance.
“We are very excited to have Black Violin coming to play the Palace on March 29. Whether you are a fan of classical sounds, or hip-hop, or are just looking for a unique, exciting musical experience, you won’t be disappointed!” said Sean Allen, director of marketing at the Palace Theatre.
“The show is going to be very impactful. It’s going to be loud— it’s like coming to a rock concert, but instead of guitar, you have violin,” described Baptiste. “It’s a party; it’s a celebration. We encourage the crowd to get up, dance, and move…. We want the audience to be free to express themselves as well. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Despite audiences being immediately drawn in by their music, Marcus and Baptiste weren’t drawn to their instruments at first. The beginning of the path to becoming Black Violin was an inadvertent one, but a journey that Baptiste is ‘thankful’ for.
Baptiste recalled that he “didn’t wake up one morning and say, ‘I want to play the violin’.” When he was young, he wanted to play the saxophone but was put in the wrong music class. Marcus began playing the violin when no other instruments were available in his music class, and he kept going with it.
Kevin Sylvester and Wilner Baptiste, who go by the stage names Kev Marcus and Wil B., first met in orchestra class at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. They classically trained on the violin and viola through their high school and college careers, and post-college, they reconvened to produce beats for South Florida rappers and began building an audience in local clubs.
The idea of becoming performing artists and still following their goal of being producers coalesced into one path. “It happened organically,” said Baptiste. “We knew classical music, and we wanted to incorporate classical music in a way that no one’s ever done before.”
“I think because we’re so immersed in hip-hop, we created our own voice,” he continued. “We wanted to present in a way that was like, ‘Oh, look at this violin, or look at this stringed instrument’. Not just something in the background— we wanted it to be kind of like what hip-hop is— a bit more aggressive in terms of how the instrument is represented.”
Black Violin tells a story entirely their own, bringing together styles and genres into a blend of older and new. “Classical [music] is put in this box where it’s considered prestigious, and hip-hop is the rebel and doesn’t care,” said Baptiste. “These two worlds coming together and having a cohesive conversation is something that I think people are fascinated by.”
“For us, it was just fun. We did it, and we started to notice how people were drawn to it,” he said. “In our careers, we’ve always had a reason to always continue. People were always drawn to it.”
Black Violin’s connection with people going to different communities and connecting with their audience is at the heart of what they do. “What we do is incredibly impactful for kids and communities, particularly as we perform across the country. We see the power that we have and the level of influence that we have,” said Baptiste.
Acknowledging this important influence, the Black Violin Foundation (BVF) is an extension of what they have worked for over their expansive careers. It’s something that they talked about for years, but their wives and BVF co-directors, Corryn Freeman and Anne Sylvester, pushed it ahead in 2019.
With instrument drives, music grants, and more, the Black Violin Foundation’s advocacy work affects the lives of over 100,000 students each year through free performances and outreach to youth symphonies, community centers, and low-income schools.
Throughout Black Violin’s nearly twenty-year journey, Baptiste cited the importance of having people in their lives who provided them the opportunities to achieve their dreams.
“We want to provide that for kids who have dreams,” said Baptiste. “The idea of a child having a dream and having it taken away because of something they have no control over is something that really bothered us. It was a no-brainer to take this foundation seriously and pursue it.”
Their audience is one that has forged a deep bond with them over the years, from individuals who started playing the violin because of them and now are pursuing it as a career to others who heard Black Violin’s music during a difficult time. “Our music really opens people up, calms people down, and gets them to be in a safe space,” said Baptiste.
“Music is one of those things that connects people and really allows them to get close to themselves, so to speak,” said Baptiste. “I think our music does that, and we hear all kinds of stories, particularly when it comes to kids.”
He described their work of empowering the next generation as a ‘movement’. “It is a movement because it’s bigger than us,” he explained. “It’s important because, not to sound corny, but with great power comes great responsibility. We feel like it’s our responsibility to make this world a better place.”
”We had opportunities, and these things happened to us, and now we’re able to not only take care of ourselves and our families with this art, but on top of that, we’re able to infuse this idea of safety and inclusivity. Having kids and adults alike feel like they can do anything and be inspired by us is a great power to have, and we don’t take it lightly,” he said. “It’s just an amazing thing. That’s what fuels me— to do something and people not only love it, but they’re better human beings because of it.”
For more information, visit www.palacealbany.org, https://blackviolin.net, and @blackviolin on Instagram, Facebook, X, and Snapchat.
