Black Violin returns to Tacoma, breaking stereotypes about classical music and race one note at a time

Classical music has a long way to go towards racial diversity — but you wouldn’t know it watching a Black Violin concert. Two African American musicians play a fusion of hip hop and classical to a mesmerized audience that’s old, young and multi-racial.

Their message? Breaking stereotypes, of both what violins and black guys do. And when the duo comes to Tacoma next Thursday, they’ll play two sold-out Pantages shows — an education matinee and an evening concert — showing just how popular that message is.

Last in Tacoma in March 2014, Black Violin — comprised of violinist Kevin Marcus and violist Wil Baptiste — have seen their career soar over a decade. High school friends in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, who played orchestra and listened to hip hop, they met again after classical studies in college to fuse musical genres. Now 34, they’ve toured extensively, played at three Super Bowls and collaborated with artists from P. Diddy and Kanye West to Aerosmith and The Eagles. They made their orchestral solo debut last February.

At the Pantages concerts they’ll perform songs from their new album “Stereotypes,” as well as some classics like Bach, backed by a DJ and drummer.

They’re not the only string players fusing genres — cellists like Zoe Keating and the Portland Cello Project layer rock beats, and violinist Lindsey Stirling mixes her own dubstep — but in blending hip hop and classical with simply being African American string players, they’re possibly unique.

Which is why the classical world so badly needs them.

“Historically, classical music is — how do I say this without sounding mean? — like a girl that’s too good for anybody,” said Baptiste on the phone. “At some point she’s going to get old, and going to have to speak to somebody. Classical music has never been very inclusive, and hip hop is the opposite of that, it’s about whoever wants to express themselves. Whereas classical music has always been, do it this way. Kids from other cultures just don’t relate to that.”

That was Baptiste and Marcus, a couple of decades ago. Neither knew much about classical music until they picked up their instruments in school orchestra class.

“I loved it for what it was,” says Baptiste.

But as Baptiste points out, just by being African American and picking up a viola, he was breaking a stereotype. The pair encounter people in elevators who are surprised to hear they play Bach.

It’s partly because most Bach-playing string players are not, in fact, African American, at least in professional and youth orchestras. African Americans and Latinos combined make up just 4 percent of professional orchestral musicians, according to the American League of Orchestras. Even fewer are conductors and board members. At major music schools, African Americans are in the minority: 4 percent at Juilliard, 2 percent at Curtis and Peabody.

Tacoma mirrors those statistics. The Tacoma Symphony has no African American string players, the Northwest Sinfonietta one of 22.

Of course, getting diversity into professional orchestras is more difficult than, say, showing more artists of color in a museum. Players win positions through blind auditions, where nobody sees the candidate until the voting is complete.

This makes diversity in music education even more critical, at all levels.

“A lot of it is about educating people so they can have appreciation for it,” says Baptiste. “Classical music needs new listeners. That’s what we do. We bridge the gap.”

In Tacoma, organizations are working at that education for youth. The Tacoma Symphony recently launched TSO2U, an outreach effort that sends symphony musicians into local high schools, where African American string players make up 17 percent. Their first session, at Mount Tahoma High School, is still having a hugely inspirational effect on players, said teacher Leo Altamiranda.

Equally, the Tacoma Youth Symphony, with 11 African American students among 247 string players, reaches out to low-income and diverse students, with a quarter of its musicians receiving financial aid. Other solutions to increasing diversity, said executive director Loma Cobbs, are a supportive, happy environment and good mentors who reflect the student body — such as Cobbs’ husband, conductor Paul Cobbs, who is African American.

Other groups nationwide are spearheading similar efforts, like the Cincinnati Symphony’s Multicultural Awareness Council, and its mentor and scholarship programs for minority students.

“In order to meaningfully affect (greater diversity), I believe the music industry as a whole — not just orchestras — will need to work cooperatively and intentionally over years and even decades,” said Tacoma Symphony executive director Andy Buelow.

For the students who see Black Violin at their education concert, the inspiration is unbeatable.

“At the last concert, the students were energized and on their feet dancing, it was incredible to witness,” said Lacey Wright, associate executive director for the Broadway Center, which is presenting Black Violin from the Tacoma Philharmonic endowment.

“It works because kids look at us and see us as superheroes, depending on their age,” explains Baptiste, who does education concerts with Marcus wherever they go. “We’re up there doing something that seems impossible. We take a genre that’s all about prestige and another that’s all about creativity, and blend them in a way that they can understand and relate to. And they relate to us just by looking … That’s why our shows are so inclusive — there’s all types of people out there, black, white, purple. It’s beautiful to see. That’s what it’s all about.”

But breaking stereotypes is not just about inspiring kids to play the violin, Baptiste says.

“It’s about taking the thing you have passion for and doing something different with it. About taking advantage of every opportunity and just having fun whatever you do — to think outside the box.”

And mixing it up with hip hop or rock also offers a way for classical music to reconnect with that elusive younger — and future — audience.

“It’s the future of classical music, but not in terms of taking over … in terms of engagement,” says Baptiste. “By people seeing Black Violin they might be more open to seeing the Cleveland Symphony. Then you see growth, and that’s what’s needed in classical music.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Black Violin returns to Tacoma, breaking stereotypes about classical music and race one note at a time."