News release from the Embassy Theatre:
Black Violin returns to the Embassy for rescheduled free student show and new public performance
(August 5, 2015) – Since a sub-zero weather day prohibited 5,000 schoolchildren from seeing Black Violin in February 2015, the Embassy Theatre is bringing the band back due to the huge demand from schoolteachers, students and the general public.
Black Violin will be in Fort Wayne on Oct. 15 with a free student show at 10 a.m. and an evening performance for the public at 7:30 p.m. The Embassy Theatre is currently working with area schools for the matinee. Tickets for the evening performance are $45, $29 and $19 and go on sale Aug. 7 at 10 a.m. through ticketmaster.com, charge-by-phone, 800.745.3000, and through the Embassy box office. Black Violin is sponsored by Chuck and Lisa Surack and Sweetwater Sound.
Wil B and Kev Marcus are classically trained viola and violin players who first met playing in the high school orchestra in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. After graduating college, they joined up as hip-hop studio rats in the South Florida, working with several different acts before returning to their roots by fusing the two genres in a groundbreaking collaboration that has seen them play their music for everybody from the troops in Iraq to both the official President’s Inaugural Ball and the Kids Inaugural in Washington, DC, where Barack Obama himself gave each a hearty hand-shake and man hug, as First Lady Michelle Obama looked on approvingly. The pair also headlined 40 shows in two stints at the New Victory Theater on Broadway, including 16 sold-out shows over two weeks last November. Along the way, they’ve wowed audiences at the legendary Harlem Apollo Theatre, accompanied Alicia Keys’ performance of “Karma” at the 2004 Billboard Awards, and appeared with Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump playing the hit song, “Stereo Hearts,” for VH1’s Unplugged.
Black Violin remains particularly committed to turning young fans on to their own potential through a tireless schedule of appearances at schools, where they constantly stress the importance of arts education. Their “triumph” is the outcome of a decade-long effort that has seen them bridge the gap between the worlds of classical and popular music. “We’re passionate about it because we realize how fortunate we were to grow up having access to that,” explains Wil B. “It’s something in which we take a great deal of pride. We encourage kids to think creatively, to take what they love doing and try to come up with something no one has ever done before. And that doesn’t just apply to playing violin or even music, but whatever it is you decide to do. Expand your mind. Once we get their attention with the music, that’s the message we want to deliver.”
Additional support for Black Violin is provided by Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne, the Indiana Arts
Commission, a state agency, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lincoln Financial Foundation.
About the Embassy Theatre
Built in 1928, the historic Embassy Theatre features national productions from the Broadway stage, concerts of all musical formats, cinema, educational programming and a continued commitment to young people. For more information, visit www.fwembassytheatre.org.
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