Black Violin Concert Concocts a Classical Fussed with Rock and Hip Hop - Hooray!

Black Violin is the marvelous musical duo Kev Marcus on electrical violin and Will B, on viola.  The duo is generating an innovative fusion of classical music, hip hop & rock that garners audiences young & old.  Last night at the Luther Burbank Theater in Santa Rosa, CA, on the last night of the 16 performances west coast tour, the audience was filled (on a school night) with masses of elementary school students, their parents and a mixture of adults who came together for a lively, engaging & enjoyable evening of interactive musical entertainment.  A young demographic wasn't the only delightful addition to the auditorium.  It didn't go unnoticed there was no security/bag clearance before entering (as there was only a week earlier).  And, photo taking, filming & requests for postings was encouraged by the performers.  Dancing was deemed permissible & visible along the aisles close to the stage.  Kev said that he & Will met in orchestra class in elementary school.  "We were studying Mozart & Beethoven and then listening to...{contemporary music our peers were listening to}."  Both artists are classically trained.  They paid homage to Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi and Bach and blended their repertoire with popular rock; "Ed Sheehan & Marvin Gaye in a unique & hypnotic way.  My personal favorite rendition was Will B on vocals & viola performing a seamless & seductive "People Fall in Love in Mysterious Ways" with "Gotta Give it Up".  There were 2 backup artists to Kev & Will that were not introduced.  Regardless, a special shout out to the phenomenal drummer.  The 4th artists was a DJ whose repetitive screeching sounds I found irritating along with the unnecessary strobe lights.  Although the DJ orchestrated a mixture of music and lyrics that added an element of deep-seated poetry.  The musical artistry of Kev & Will was more than enough to thrill and to instill an appreciative for a broad spectrum of musical styles that work in harmony & allow for an appreciation of a plethora of genres.  Kev and Will B named themselves Black Violin i/h/o Stuff Smith, a jazz violinist they greatly admired.  Smith passed away 6 months after the release of his solo album entitled Black Violin.   Kev has said the intent of their compositions is to pique curiosity for what they could do differently & more creatively in their lives.  "So whether they want to be scientists or lawyers or hockey stars or anything. Whatever they want to do - just make sure they go about doing it different than anybody else."   Last year, Black Violin was honored in their hometown of Broward County, FL by Turnaround Arts, a nat'l education program of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  The program provides schools with musical instrument grants, art supplies and artists' mentorships.