Black Violin Classical Boom Tour Comes To Grand Rapids
Boom Tour staring Wilner Baptiste and Kevin Sylvester will be performing along with the Grand Rapids Symphony at this year's Symphony with Soul on Saturday, February 16, at the DeVos Performance Hall. Additional performances will also include the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the Grand Rapids Symphony Mosaic Scholars. In this Grand Rapids Times interview, Wilner Baptiste, talks about how he and Kevin began playing the violin, the origins of the duo, what people can expect at their show and more.
GRT: How did you get started with playing the violin?
Baptiste: My story basically starts with my being put into the wrong class. I wanted to play the saxophone, but they put me in strings. I didn't find out until later that the actual band teacher and the string teacher had a bet that whoever won the golf game gets this kid in their class and that is how my class got switched.
It was a summer program and I was stuck in the class for two weeks so I dealt with it. To my surprise, I kind of fell in love with the violin, so I kept learning to play it.
My partner's story is that he was getting into trouble a lot at school and his mother made him join a summer music class.
All the other instruments were chosen by other students. The violin was all that was left for him to play. He picked it up. As we grew in middle school and high school, classical music was always something that we did in school.
GRT: Where did the hip - hop aspect of your performance come from?
Baptists: We are hip -hop kids by nature. We listen to hip - hop, reggae and other music because we are a product of our environment; so it wasn't difficult for us to put the two together. Hip - Hop is about expression and being yourself. That is what we did through our instruments. We had fun at the same time. In the beginning we were young and we really didn't think that people liked our music enough for us to make a career out it.
GRT: At what age did you two come together and form a duo?
Baptiste: I would have to say that we met and began playing together in our early twenties.
We pretty much tour all year around. We have three albums and we are working on completing our fourth which should be coming out soon. We are signed to the classical division of Universal Records. Right now, we are independent. We are probably going to move forward independently, depending on the situation and whether there is a good opportunity to put our music out; but we will see.
We have a lot of videos on YouTube on our channel Black Violin TV. People can also go to www.blackviolin.net or at our social media at www.blackviolinmusic, we are also on Instagram and twitter under black violin.
GRT: Since it is Black History Month, will your show be different than your usual show?
Baptiste: Not really. We are two Black guys who are doing something that is considered white, but we play Black music and other genres of music like jazz. We grew up loving hip - hop, jazz, andold school music like during the Motown era. Oddly, my parents didn't play a lot of music. Our situation is different because we are both from the Caribbean. I am from Haiti and my partner is from Dominque.
GRT: What kinds of goals do the two of you have for the future?
Baptiste: We are trying to brand ourselves and our mission — which is to show people that they can do anything they want in life if they put their mind to it. Our goal through our music is to inspire and to uplift people and we want to continue doing that. We want to continue doing what we do.
It is hard work, but it is also very rewarding.
GRT: What should people expect to see when they come to your show?
Baptiste: They should expect a high - energy show, kind of a rock concert through a violin's perspective. That is pretty much what they are going to get with the light show and everything that you would expect at a concert, because it is truly an experience.
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