Black Violin: Full Circle Tour

Name: Black Violin: Full Circle Tour
Start: 2025-04-09T19:30:00-04:00
Location: Scottish Rite Auditorium

Schedule

Wed, 09 Apr, 2025 at 07:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Scottish Rite Auditorium | Collingswood, NJ

BLACK VIOLIN
Full Circle Tour 2025
Wednesday, April 9 - 7:30pm
Scottish Rite Auditorium
315 White Horse Pike
Collingswood, NJ 08107
On Sale Friday, November 15 at 10:00 AM
Tickets available at Etix.com & the Scottish Rite Box Office
Presented by the Camden County Board of Commissioners
Produced by BRE Presents

Wil Baptiste immigrated to the United States from the Bahamas with his family at the age of 11. He hoped to join the school band to play saxophone, but accidentally was placed in the string program. He grew to love the viola and mastered it as well as the trumpet, drums and bass guitar.
Kev Marcus began playing violin at age 9, with the encouragement of his mother. He and Wil Baptiste met while attending the famed Dillard High School of the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where they were trained in the classical tradition. During their class and practice time they developed firm classic techniques and in free time listened to hip hop and rhythm and blues.
Black Violin was born when Marcus heard the music of violinist Stuff Smith, considered to be the first violinist to use electrical amplification techniques on a violin. His professor sat him down at a lesson and told him to listen. Marcus said Smith’s music was “unbelievable”, saying “classical violin with soul and fire. I loved it.” He passed the music on to Wil Baptiste and together they decided to form a band, calling it Black Violin, named after Smith’s eponymous soulful solo album. Inspired by Smith’s music, the two realized that they could synthesize all the styles they loved: classical, jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and even reggae and gypsy music.
Along with their DJ - DJ SPS, drummer - Nat Stokes, and keyboardist - Liston Gregory, Kev and Wil have created the ultimate synergy between Classical and Hip- Hop music, and through it an incredible opportunity to reach young children. Among their achievements Black Violin clinched the Showtime at the Apollo 2005 Legend title, performed on the same bill with some of the industry’s biggest artists and performed at the official President’s Inaugural Ball in 2013. In addition, Black Violin has composed for a major FOX Television original Pitch, and has been featured by ESPN as the official artist of the 2017 US Open (tennis) and 2016 & 2017 Heisman Trophy Award ceremonies. They have been featured on The Tonight Show, The Today Show, Ellen, The Wendy William’s Show, NPR, and more. The two are also avid producers and writers, and have released three albums of original music: Black Violin (2007), Classically Trained (2013), Stereotypes (2015), and Take the Stairs (2019). Their debut holiday album, Give Thanks was released in November of 2020. The band has since earned a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album" for Take the Stairs and a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Americana Performance" for their track "The Message" in collaboration with the band The Blind Boys of Alabama.
One of Black Violin’s most well-known works, “Brandenburg”, “quotes” J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 movement 1, one of six works widely held as the most influential and finest compositions of the Baroque period. (In jazz, performers “quote” musical material by using melodies and ideas from other artists as the basis for their interpretation.) In 1721, Bach presented a series of six concerti to the Margrave of Brandenburg, who then put these great works on the shelf where they sat until the 19th century. Bach wrote each concerto, often requiring virtuosos to play the solos, for a different combination of instruments. No.3 was composed for three violins, three violas, three cellos, and basso continuo, while No. 6 does not use a violin at all!
“Dirty Orchestra” utilizes fugues and counterpoints to create a musical narrative.. A fugue is a composition tool in which one instrument plays a short melody, then another instrument echoes the pieces, then another echoes, and so on, with all parts interweaving into each other. Counterpoints in music are two corresponding melodies that are played at the same time.
“Gypsy” takes its cue in the Romani musical tradition that has influenced classical music since Bach and Haydn, and particularly Liszt, Dvorak, and Bartok. In turn, the local musical traditions influenced the music and style of the Roma (gypsies) living there. For example, in Spain, they are known for Flamenco. The Roma are a nomadic people, originally from India, and have migrated westward for the past two thousand years (they picked up the name “gypsy” in the 1500’s because it was believed they were from Egypt.) Romani music is most associated with the violin, incorporating changes in tempo, slides in notes and pitches, energy and soul.