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Bach meets Biggie: Black Violin one of a dozen performances coming to IUP this season

Courtesy photo / Black Violin will perform Nov. 8 in the Fisher Auditorium on the IUP campus.

Kev Marcus and Wil B. have been defying stereotypes since they picked up classical instruments in their youth, met and later became a duo that today travels the world playing an unusual blend of classical and hip hop music — on strings.

Classically trained, they call themselves Black Violin, and they’re bringing their “Bach meets Biggie” music to the Indiana University of Pennsylvania this fall as part of the Lively Arts’ “Ovations!” season.

The season kicks off on Tuesday with Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz Villegas. It also features Ben Vereen, as well as two traveling, Tony-winning Broadway shows — “Kinky Boots” and “Jersey Boys,” the “cornerstones” of the season, Hank Knerr, executive director of the Lively Arts program, said before he retired after 28 years this summer.

“We always look for diversity of both culture and genre” in the shows, he said.

For example, two dance groups are coming, one is modern — Kun-Yang Lin Dancers on Oct. 17 — and the other more classic, but funny, Les Ballets Trockadero on Feb. 5. Called the “Trocks,” the troupe is all men who dance en pointe, usually in tutus.

“They’re serious dancers, but they’re a comedy team,” Knerr said. “It’s a combination of Milton Berle, Dame Edna and RuPaul.”

He said Vereen’s show is “very uplifting, very spiritual.”

“He’s a motivating type of person,” Knerr said of the award-winning singer, actor and dancer on stage, screen and television. Vereen may be best known for his Tony-winning performance in “Pippin,” as well as his role as Chicken George in the television series “Roots.”

Knerr said he likes to use the performances as outreach and educational programs, and that falls in line with exactly what Black Violin likes to do.

“We perform for 130,000 kids a year,” said Wil B., the stage name for Wilner Baptiste, the viola playing member of Black Violin. “They’re more likely to listen to Mozart or Bach music after our concert, and they’ll look at it differently.

“That literally is the whole point: for them to look at the world in a different way, look around at these different people having a good time, everybody thinking about one thing, the music.”

Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Baptiste wanted to play the saxophone. His band teacher suggested that he sign up for a summer music program, and he unexpectedly ended up in the strings class.

“I expected to play the sax, but I just made the best of the class,” he said.

As it turns out, two summer music teachers wanted him in their respective classes, so they played a golf game to settle who would get him. The strings teacher won.

“And, 22 years later, I’m still playing,” Baptiste said, in a telephone interview with the Mirror from his South Florida home.

While at the Dillard High School of the Performing Arts, Baptiste met Kevin Sylvester, whose stage name today is Kev Marcus. They had the same teacher who encouraged them to further their educations, and they were awarded full music scholarships, Baptiste to Florida State University and Sylvester to Florida International University.

After college, they launched their careers as a team. Their name was inspired by an album that swing-era jazz violinist Stuff Smith recorded: Black Violin.

“It’s not about race, but it is,” Baptiste said. “That album changed us, and it’s definitely a play on words. It was fitting because we’re black guys, and we’re playing the violin.”

They were selected to perform with Alicia Keys at the 2004 Billboard Awards, and they won the “Showtime at the Apollo” Legend award in 2005. They’ve played on bills with the likes of Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, and they’ve worked with Kanye West, Tom Petty and other big names.

Their first album, “Classically Trained,” was released in 2012. Their second, called “Stereotypes,” came out in 2015 and they took that music on tour with eight shows in Europe, followed by their “Unity” Tour in this country last year. This year’s tour is called “Classical,” but the unity theme still is in play, Baptiste said, and is needed more than ever considering the racial unrest in the country. A third album is expected next year.

“We’ll continue to preach this unity through our music,” he said.

And strike down stereotypes.

“We’re two black guys playing the violin; that in itself defies stereotypes that we’ve dealt with for a long time,” Baptiste said. “When I get on stage, I still don’t look like I should be playing this. I’m not wearing a tuxedo or anything. But when you walk out of that concert and you see someone who looks like me, your perception has changed. You won’t automatically assume something. … It helps break down these barriers in our mind.”

But more than breaking down stereotypes on racial terms, Baptiste believes Black Violin is breaking them down for music, and that is a good thing, for both classical and hip-hop genres.

“Classical music is dying away,” he said, largely because young people aren’t exposed to it and feel they can’t afford to listen to it. “But we bring together these two worlds that need each other.”

Who are their fans?

“There is no one demographic,” Baptiste added. “It’s really across the board and that’s … the beauty of it. It’s just music and it brings people together.”

Mirror Staff Writer Cherie Hicks is at 949-7030.

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IUP Lively Arts Ovations! Season

www.IUP.edu/LivelyArts

(724) 357-1313

All shows at 8 p.m.

* Tuesday, Pablo Sainz Villegas, guitar, Gorell Recital Hall

* Oct. 12, “Jersey Boys,” Fisher Auditorium

* Oct. 17, Kun-Yang Lin Dancers, Fisher

* Oct. 30, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Fisher

* Nov. 8, Black Violin, Fisher

* Dec. 3, The Hot Sardines jazz, Fisher

* Feb. 5, Les Ballets Trockadero, Fisher

* Feb. 22, ETHEL, with Robert Mirabal, Gorell

* March 6, Jacob Shaw, cello, Gorell

* March 20, Steinway artist Lise de la Salle, Gorell

* April 5, HAYA: Migration Concert, Fisher

* April 19, “Kinky Boots,” Fisher

* May 3, “Stepping Out,” with Ben Vereen, Fisher

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