Black Violin Experience brings genre-blending show to Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Two childhood friends and Grammy-nominated violinists have a unique way of fusing classical music with rock, hip-hop and R&B.
Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste are The Black Violin Experience, and they've collaborated with everyone from The Roots, to Aerosmith and Wu-Tang Clan.
"This show ain't about the violin, this show is about thinking outside the box and breaking stereotypes," Marcus said in a recent show.
"We're both big Black guys that play violin. And most of the time you don't see violinists that look like us and carry themselves in the way that we do, so we try to lean into what makes us different," Marcus said.
The group covers a range of music from Mozart, to Marvin Gaye, to Kendrick Lamar.
"We're blending all things together but we're very respectful of the genres that we're blending," Marcus said. "It's blended together in a way where there might be a middle-aged woman, and she sits there with her eyes closed, and she's just lost in the violin. And then right next to her, there's little Deshaun, her 10-year-old son, and he's like, 'oh this beat is going.'"
"It's not just musical, it's about the message of, 'Man I've never seen anything like this before,'" Marcus added. "And we challenge the audience, adults, kids, everybody. If this is something that you've never seen before, what do you love, that you can do in a way that no one has ever seen?"
The Kimmel Cultural Campus presents The Black Violin Experience at the Miller Theater, the former Merriam Theater.
Their show is Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
The duo also has a nonprofit called The Black Violin Foundation, providing young people access to quality music programs in their communities.
