Black Violin - Give Thanks Tour

Tickets Start at $37

Black Violin is led by classically trained string players Wil B. (viola) and Kev Marcus (violin). Joining them onstage are DJ SPS and drummer Nat Stokes. The band’s Give Thanks Tour employs playful storytelling, whimsical string melodies, and hard-hitting beats to highlight the unifying pillars of the holiday season: Giving back to others and being wholeheartedly thankful. Fans can expect to dance along to hits from the band’s Grammy nominated Take the Stairs album, as well as holiday favorites from Give Thanks.

For 17 years, Black Violin has been merging string arrangements with modern beats and vocals and building bridges in communities along the way. Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste first met in orchestra class at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, becoming classically trained on the violin and viola through their high school and college careers. Post-college, they reconvened to produce beats for South Florida rappers, and began building an audience in local clubs. They later went on to win Showtime at the Apollo in 2005, and eventually sold out headline performances at venues across the country, including a sold out two-night headline run at The Kennedy Center in 2018. NPR took note and declared “their music will keep classical music alive for the next generation.”

Pre-pandemic, Black Violin was playing over 200 shows a year (many of these are performances for young low-income students in urban communities-in the last year alone, the group played for over 100,000 students) with the goal of challenging stereotypes and preconceived notions of what a “classical musician” looks and sounds like. “The stereotypes are always there, embedded so deep in our culture,” says Wil. “Just by nature of our existence we challenge those ideas. It’s a unique thing that brings people together who aren’t usually in the same room, and in the current climate, it’s good to bring people together.”

In 2019, the group launched the Black Violin Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering youth by providing access to quality music programs in their community. BVF believes that music and access to music programs should not be determined by race, gender, or socio-economic status. Black Violin Foundation’s inaugural program the Musical Innovation Grant for Continuing Education will provide scholarships to young music students to attend a program of their liking that fosters musical creativity and innovation.

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