Black Violin

Thursday, October 25th @ 7:30PM

Barre Opera House | Barre, VT

– get tickets and event info here –

High-energy, classically trained musicians renowned for their ability to meld highbrow and pop culture into a single act, Black Violin mines the synergy among classical, jazz, blues, R&B, and hip-hop. With millions of YouTube followers, virtuoso violinists Kev Marcus (Kevin Sylvester) and Wil B (Wilner Baptiste), plus TK, their masterful accompanying DJ and drummer Matt Stokes, are redefining the music world, one string at a time. Part maestro, part emcee, this revolutionary group, declared one of the “hottest bands of SXSW,” encourages audiences to look at things from a different perspective, to show what can happen when you color way outside the lines.

Baptiste puts it this way: “They had little shindigs going on back in the days, right? They needed music. So just think of it that way. Like, I’m this guy, I own this big palace — “Mozart – listen, what can you whip up, man? I need some new tunes.’ ”
“So it’s the same kind of thing with hip-hop,” Sylvester offers. “It’s just like, I need Grandmaster Flash to DJ my party. You know, hip-hop and classical, in a lot of ways, are both party music for different eras.”

The band’s most recent record, Stereotypes, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover Chart and #4 on the Billboard R&B Chart. NPR praised the album and band, saying “their music will keep classical music alive for the next generation.”