Bridging the gap between classical music and hip-hop may seem like a monumental task, but one Park Hill man thinks he has the answer.
Jeff Hughes, of Denver, better known on the downtown Denver streets as Maestro, is gradually working his way up the ladder to stardom, but according to him, it seems to have a million steps.
Hughes, 24, first discovered his love of classical music at a young age.
"I started playing the violin at age 3," he said. "I saw a television show with a very famous violinist called
Itzhak Perlman on
Sesame Street. My mom noticed how much I liked him."
Acting on his attraction to the violin and classical music, Hughes started playing in various youth symphonies, and by age 10, he was a regular soloist in the
Colorado Symphony Orchestra. The success of that experience not only created a buzz for him, but also let him know that the violin could take him places. In 1998 as a student at Colorado Academy, he began taking lessons under
Basil Vendryes, who is the principal violist in the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. "He just inspired me. He was a black guy out there playing classical music, but you can still do your own thing (to it)," Hughes said. For Maestro, hip-hop was that "thing." In 1999, adding to his training, he was awarded a fellowship to study with the
National Symphony Orchestra. Given his strong love for hip-hop, Hughes wanted to see how well the two genres would sound together. "It put me on a whole new level with music. It allowed me to connect hip-hop with the violin," he said. "Since I'm African-American, we feel music differently, but I'm able to take that square classical music and make it a little bit funky." Once he entered the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music in 2002, he focused his attention on finding a way to use the violin to play some of his favorite rap tunes. "I got to college and noticed that there's a lot of different people in the music school that were using their instruments to play other types of music. And I've always loved hip-hop, but until then, I never practiced or tried to do it seriously," he said. "Once I saw this girl in my class that played the flute and was also in a rock band, I decided to pursue this hip-hop thing." | Want to see Maestro in action?
Click here to see Maestro on 16th Street, amazing passersby. (
link)
Click here to watch him in the studio. (
link)
Want to see Maestro in person? Here is a list of his upcoming performances:
Nov. 7,8 p.m.: Hughes will be a featured performer for the Playing for Change Benefit Concert at Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place. Tickets are on sale and are available by calling TicketHorse charge-by-phone at 1-866-461-6556 or the Paramount Theatre box office at 303-623-0106.
During the World Series game in Denver on Oct. 27, Hughes will set up shop on 20th Street between Blake and Market streets at 7 p.m. E-mail him at
maestrohughes@gmail.com for more details.
Have you already seen Hughes perform? What did you think of his skills? Click here and tell us about it.
For updates on Hughes' performances, check out
www.maestrohughes.com or go to
denver.yourhub.com/videos.
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"I got to college and noticed that there's a lot of different people in the music school that were using their instruments to play other types of music. And I've always loved hip-hop, but until then, I never practiced or tried to do it seriously," he said. "Once I saw this girl in my class that played the flute and was also in a rock band, I decided to pursue this hip-hop thing."
From there, Hughes embarked on a mission to make the violin sound in a way that most people wouldn't imagine. To do this, he began practicing on his own, trying to mirror the sounds he heard in various rap songs. Using tunes from artists like
Snoop Dogg and
Rakim, Hughes quickly mastered the art of playing classical and rap music simultaneously and has made it his duty to get as much local and national attention as possible.
"Now that I'm done with school, it's really starting to blow up for me because I've got so much time to work on it."
Darcy Levy, of Denver, one of Hughes close friends, said Hughes' talent is unlike any he's ever seen.
"I think he's second to none," Levy said. "He has a very good work ethic and he's amazing at what he does."
Hughes has begun building his own studio at his home and has accepted invitations from other local artists like
Dent and
DJ Chonz, of
KS107.5, to play at their shows. Although his schedule can get pretty thick, if you ask Hughes, it's all about the grind, which he's loving every second of.
"In the next five to 10 years, I'd like to have Maestro, Inc. going and I want to produce music. Who knows, you could see me arranging a composition for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra featuring
Nate Dogg."
Editor's note: Hughes has finished his coursework at the University of Denver, but has one more requirement to fill before officially graduating in May 2008.