Black Violin returns to downtown Orlando on Friday, bringing a sound that has spent more than two decades scrambling the line between the concert hall and the cypher. The Florida-bred duo of violinist Kev Marcus and violist Wil Baptiste plays Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center at 8 p.m., touring behind their latest record and joined by a guest horn player who's built his own crossover career.
The show is part of Black Violin's Be Free Tour, built around material from their newest album, Full Circle, released in May 2025, according to Black Violin's tour site. Joining Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste onstage is alto saxophonist, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Braxton Cook, according to the Dr. Phillips Center, which bills the pair as classically trained string players reworking a historically Eurocentric art form with hip-hop style and swagger, per Orlando Weekly.
From a Fort Lauderdale Orchestra Class to National Stages
Baptiste and Marcus didn't meet in a recording studio or a rap battle — they met in orchestra class. The two first crossed paths on the first day of orchestra in 1996 at Dillard High School of the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, per the band's own account. That shared classical training became the foundation for a sound that would later be described as genre-defying, blending classical technique with the pulse of hip-hop.
The duo's breakthrough arrived in 2005, when they won Showtime at the Apollo, the station notes. Two years later, in 2007, Black Violin released its self-titled debut album. The pair went on to play as many as 200 shows a year, grinding through two independently financed albums before reaching wider audiences with 2016's Stereotypes, according to the band's biography.
Grammy Nods and a White House Stage
Black Violin's résumé since then has included a stop at the highest levels of American public life — the duo performed a kids' concert at President Barack Obama's 2013 inauguration. Their album Take the Stairs later earned a nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 2020 Grammys. Through it all, the band has framed its mission as challenging stereotypes, breaking down cultural barriers and inspiring audiences — particularly young people — a goal they've pursued both onstage and through education work tied to the Black Violin Foundation.
A Live Band Built on Strings, Turntables and Drums
Onstage, Black Violin's sound is filled out by a full band, including a drummer, DJ and keyboardist alongside the string duo, per the group's tour materials. Orlando Weekly, previewing Friday's concert, describes the pairing of Black Violin with homegrown drummer Nat Stokes and turntablist DJ SPS as the makings of a live hip-hop clinic — a configuration the outlet says will blow the powder off any wig in the room.
It isn't the first time Black Violin has brought that chemistry to the Dr. Phillips Center. The duo played the venue in November 2024 for a program called BV20: Then and Now, backed by Nat Stokes on drums, DJ SPS on turntables and keyboardist Liston Gregory, according to Orlando Weekly's earlier coverage of that 20th-anniversary show. Friday's concert at Steinmetz Hall, located at 445 S. Magnolia Ave., marks another chapter in that ongoing Orlando relationship — this time centered on the sound of Full Circle and the addition of Braxton Cook's horn.
