Black Violin
Wil B and Kev Marcus are classically trained viola and violin players who first met playing in the high school orchestra. After graduating college, they joined up as hip-hop studio rats in the South Florida, working with several different acts before returning to their roots. Adding a live DJ and drummer, they fused classical, hip-hop, rock, R&B, and bluegrass into a groundbreaking collaboration called Black Violin. Since starting the group a decade ago, Black Violin has performed an average of 200 shows a year in 49 states and 36 countries as far away as Dubai, Prague and South Africa, while appearing at official NFL celebrations for three Super Bowls and last year’s U.S. Open in Forest Hills with Jordin Sparks. Their groundbreaking collaboration has seen them play their music for everybody from the troops in Iraq to both the official President’s Inaugural Ball and the Kids Inaugural in Washington, DC, where Barack Obama himself gave each a hearty hand-shake. Individually and together, Black Violin has collaborated with the likes of P. Diddy, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin and The Eagles. Black Violin smashes musical stereotypes and will enthrall lovers of Bach and Beyoncé. They have inspired kids from all over North America to get fired up about classical music—proving that their hearts are as big and soulful as their sound.
“Black Violin works hard, but makes it all look like play… Sometimes they play with the intense seriousness of orchestral soloists; at others they fiddle as if at a hoedown; at still others they strum the violin and viola like guitars.” - New York Times