Clark State Community College will welcome Black Violin for their second performance at the Clark State Performing Arts Center this Saturday, October 14.
Adele Adkins, executive director of the PAC, said the energetic group was invited back for numerous reasons.
“Their performance was outstanding, and I have rarely seen a crowd so excited and passionate at a concert,” she said. “Equally important is their message of shattering stereotypes and uniting audiences. One of my favorite quotes from them is, ‘Experience something you’ve never experienced before. That’s what music is, that’s what art is.’”
Black Violin offers a unique blend of hip-hop and classical music that reaches audiences of all generations. “It’s like a rock concert,” said Adkins. They are really inspiring! They will take something like the Four Seasons by Vivaldi – and even if people don’t realize they know it, they know it – they will hip-hop it up and put a spin on it.”
Founding members of Black Violin Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus first learned to play their signature instruments – Baptiste, the viola and Marcus, the violin - at ages 14 and 9 years old.
Black Violin claims influences ranging from Shostakovich and Bach to Nas and Jay-Z. They blend the classical with the modern to create something “no one has heard, but that everybody wants to feel.”
The performance will feature musicians from the Springfield Symphony Youth Orchestra and Urban Strings, a Columbus-based youth orchestra.
Violinist Kev Marcus told the Springfield News-Sun, “We had our most rocking show of the tour that night (2016), there was great energy, and Springfield had a great vibe.”
Tickets for Black Violin range from $19 to $56 and are available at ticketmaster.com. The show will begin at 8 p.m. at the Clark State Performing Arts Center, 300 South Fountain Avenue, Springfield.