Black Violin greeted its Gainesville audience with an explosive sound, the stage a mix of the electric violin, viola, drums, keyboard and a DJ booth.
Wilner “Wil B.” Baptiste and Kevin “Kev Marcus” Sylvester, both classically trained viola and violin musicians, form the duo Black Violin and played their 27th show of the year Saturday night at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
The duo performed classical-pop versions of “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons and a medley of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” which transitioned into Bruno Mars’ “Treasure.”
They said their original song, “The Mission,” exemplified their music experimentation, and they are constantly looking for new ways to play the violin.
Sylvester played his electric violin as if it were a guitar throughout the tune.
The duo also freestyled, played solos and improvised tunes.
“This is our mission,” Baptiste said to the full audience. “But what’s yours? ... If you have dreams, do it.”
Both Sylvester and Baptiste encouraged flash photography, dancing, cheering and clapping throughout the performance — as long as the audience tagged them on social media. Any moment could be a YouTube moment, Sylvester said.
The night ended with a surprise for Kevin Sylvester’s retired violin teacher — who taught him in Fort Lauderdale 24 years ago and retired in Gainesville — when Sylvester’s sister, Kendra, a UF medical school student, gave him flowers.
Priya Shil, a UF microbiology sophomore, said she cried during the performance.
“From one musician to another,” Shil, 19, said, “their music touched my heart.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 2/2/2015 under the headline “Black Violin brings untraditional music to Phillips Center"]
Kevin “Kev Marcus” Sylvester (left) pumps up the audience through song, while Wilner “Wil B.” Baptiste plays on his viola, “Tiffany.”
