By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org
NOTE: WKTV has been notified that the Feb. 16 concert has been sold out. For other Grand Rapids Symphony concerts, visit grsymphony.org
Kevin Sylvester and Wilner Baptiste do not fit the usual stereotype of classical musicians, and they are not. The Florida-natives have become one of the hottest crossover groups because of their wide-ranging repertorie that includes classical to hip-hop.
The duo, who are Black Violin, are set to perform at the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Symphony with Soul Feb. 16 concert.
As children, neither musician was interested in studying stringed instruments, much less classical music. Sylvester was nudged into music classes by his mother and focused on the violin despite initially dismissing it as uncool, according to a 2015 article from NPR.
Baptiste, who wanted to study the saxophone, told NPR he ended up in the string section due to a bet between two teachers.
“I didn’t find this out until 2012, that the reason why I got put in his class was because he and the band teacher had a bet,” Baptiste told NPR. “They basically said to themselves, ‘Listen, let’s play golf, and whoever wins get this kid in their class.’”
The joke was on the teachers as Baptiste would pick up the viola and more than 20 years later, has made it a profession becoming half of one of the most sought after crossover groups in the nation.
After going to college to study classical music and learn their craft, Sylvester, a.k.a. Kev Marcus, and Baptiste, a.k.a. Wil B, retuned home to Ft. Lauderdale and began covering hip-hop songs on their instruments as Black Violin.
Soon they were invited to perform “Karma” with Alicia Keys on the 2004 Billboard Music Awards. Two years later, the duo would send an audition tape to “Showtime at the Apollo,” where they competed and won the competition.
Fast-forward, and the group known for a “hard-hitting beat with lush string sounds” has toured with Kanye West, Jay-Z and Linkin Park and has collaborated with Aereosmith,Wynton Marsalis, and Elvis Costello. In January 2013, they performed for President Barack Obama at his second inauguration.
Also performing at Symphony with Soul will be musicians from the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Mosaic Scholarship Program for talented African-American and Latino students. The program provides teenage students with one-on-one lessons with a Grand Rapids Symphony musician plus the use of a musical instrument, music supplies, and tickets to Grand Rapids Symphony concerts at no cost to the student.
Opening the program is the anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.” First performed in 1900 by a group of 500 school children for President Lincoln’s birthday celebration, the cherished song of the Civil Rights Movement is the traditional opener for the community celebration in DeVos Hall.
Each year, Symphony with Soul is preceded by Celebration of Soul, a gala dinner honoring the accomplishments of individuals and organizations in the community that emphasize and celebrate the importance of cultural awareness and inclusion in West Michigan.
This year’s recipients of the Dr. MaLinda P. Sapp Legacy Award are architect, business owner and jazz musician Isaac V. Norris; Grand Rapids Symphony Associate Conductor John Varineau; and retired educator, photographer and musician Noel Webley, Jr.
Tickets
Tickets for Symphony with Soul start at $18 and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Full-time students of any age are able to purchase tickets for only $5 on the day of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Ticket program.
