When some people think of two individuals playing the violin, they make assumptions regarding the type of music they will play, the way the performers look and the way the performers present themselves.
However, when Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus came on stage, they demonstrated just how different their perspective of playing the violin is. Their group, Black Violin, challenges stereotypes.
Some of the first words that came out of Marcus’ mouth were, “Scream. Yell. Clap along and sing along.”
Wil then proceeded to hype up the crowd shouting things like, “Stand up! Hands up.”
The sold-out Waterman Theater held a beyond enthusiastic audience on Sept. 20, with people dancing, singing and recording the performance. Baptiste and Marcus made sure that there audience was as interactive as possible, even saying things like “flash photography is encouraged” and “follow us on Facebook.”
Nneke Haley, a sophomore at Oswego State, stood on her toes, singing along to every popular song the musicians performed. She expressed her appreciation and enjoyment by dancing, clapping and convincing others to join her dance party.
“This was the most different and interesting performance I have ever been to,” Haley said.
Baptiste and Marcus intrigued the audience by playing well known songs such as “Too Good,” “Controlla” and “One Dance” by the rapper Drake. They also dipped into different genres, playing “Let’s Get it On” by Marvin Gaye, “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran and “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” by Mike Posner.
Toward the end of their performance, they played classical composers, but the traditional aspect didn’t stop them from adding their own “stink,” as Baptiste said. The two men performed some of their own songs, including “Invisible,” “A-flat” and “Stereotype.”
Despite ‘violin’ being in the title of their name, the duo did not limit their performance to one instrument. Baptiste has the gift of an amazing voice that hummed through the crowd and immediately caught people’s attention. Baptiste also surprised the audience by elegantly playing the piano while Marcus showed off his skills on the violin.
Oswego State’s director of arts programming, John Shaffer, said he was enthusiastic to have these young men perform the first stop out of 65 shows in their Unity Tour at Oswego State. Shaffer said the pair is “delightful” both on and off stage.
Mara Engelmann, an intern for Artswego, said throughout many performances she has sat through, this was definitely a more enjoyable one, especially for the staff.
Marcus and Baptiste met during high school while living in Florida. They both had a strong passion for music and connected by sharing their love for combining classical and modern-day music. They continued their career by attending Juilliard, the school for performing arts and shortly after, they became a sensational pair.
For the past 10 years Marcus and Baptiste have tried to come up with music that connects people, rather than dividing them. Their Unity Tour aims to shine a light on looking at things from a different perspective. Both performers achieved this by being black men playing the violin. They broke gender norms and basic societal stereotypes, creating Unity.
