BY PAIGE MARSHALL

 

If you want to hear a classically trained violinist who can play a Justin Bieber or Drake tune as easily as a piece by Niccolo Paganini, and maybe even mix the two genres, Seth G is your man.

      Seth Gilliard has become a well-known name to many Charleston residents, playing throughout the city. He’s found most Thursdays at Oku with his electronic violin remixes of popular music. He covers songs by Frank Ocean, Ellie Goulding and, yes, Bieber and Drake.

       Elisabeth Bora says she frequents Thursday nights at Oku in order to see Gilliard perform, and she is always disappointed when her schedule forces her miss a performance. 

      Gilliard is a classically trained violinist; he attended Furman’s School of Music. He has been able to take his classical training and use it to reimagine popular songs. Bora says that what she loves best about the music is that is the classic violin sound combined with current hits.

      When Gilliard first began, he used YouTube and social media platforms to gained a larger audience. In fact, his cover of Burn by Ellie Goulding became so popular that Ryan Seacrest posted it in an E News contest for best cover, making Seth G a nationally known name and pushing his YouTube videos to hundreds of thousands of views.