Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Type Mz Poppinz into Google and the top result will be a YouTube clip entitled "sexiest violin player in the world!"
And though that may be true, it shortchanges the Pittsburgh native (born Melissa Palichat), who's bringing her unique combination of talents to Mynt Lounge tonight.
"I imagine myself in a DJ booth in the middle of an orchestra pit," Poppinz says over a few mojitos. "Have music scored for the instruments and conduct the orchestra from the DJ booth."
Poppinz first picked up a violin at age three, and she never put it down. Gymnastics took up a lot of her time until the age of 14, when she decided to concentrate on the violin, eventually ending up at Miami's New World School of the Arts in 2005.
"Some say Miami can be a bit distracting," Poppinz says of her adopted city. "But to me, it is more like a sanctuary with the water and sunshine. I get in my zone, in my room, and it feels like nothing can hurt me."
Poppinz' career really took a different direction when she decided to "modernize the violin" with the help of producer Jimmy Douglass, a four-time Grammy winner who's worked with an incredible array of musicians, from The Rolling Stones to Jay-Z.
"I felt my interest changing even before I met Jimmy," said Poppinz. "I grew up dancing and I felt it was time combine my passions, introduce the violin to the public. We want the [dance] music to compliment the violin. We don't want the violin to take away from the [dance] music."
Her musical influences include classical violin players Itzhak Perlman and Yehudi Menuhin and British crossover violinist Vanessa-Mae. The Chemical Brothers are her biggest influences when it comes to electronic dance music.
Together with Douglass, Poppinz is working on two separate, still untitled albums. One will be a dance album, with the violin "optional," according to Poppinz. The other will be a classical album showcasing the vioilin, or as Poppinz described it "the acoustic version."
Poppinz, who just returned from Chicago where she performed at the Paris Club, puts a lot time, energy and thought into her live shows. The musician in her never wants to see people walking away from the dancefloor. All her actions behind the booth, whether on the turntables or with the violin, reflect her dedication to the live show.
She isn't just the "sexiest violin player in the world!"
- Miami New Times
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Melissa Palichat, aka Mz Poppinz, is a Turkish-Ukrainian DJ and violinist native from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She studied for years under accomplished symphony members and soloists, has won numerous awards and played with symphonies and quartet groups from all around the world. Mz Poppinz attended Carnegie Mellon University majoring in music performance and continued her education in Miami at The New World School of the Arts.
Despite her promising classical career, her passion led her elsewhere. “As a teenager, I began to hear other sounds and the way the violin could be played. Exploring a love and passion for dance and other forms of popular music, I became fascinated with the art and technical aspects of Dj-ing. I began to merge and improvise on themes, melodies, and styles that took my playing to a completely different level.” By learning how to DJ, she was able to incorporate those sounds with her music – fusing the classical elements of her training with a modern edge. “It’s about making the connection – bringing the joy I find in the violin to other genres of music. As a DJ, I am able to showcase my music along with other artists from around the world.”
Not only does she play for talented artists and Grammy award-winning producers, she has found a way to make the violin, her voice within her own music. With a unique fusion of electronic music and original composition, her innovative approach to the violin transcends traditional boundaries and takes one of the world’s most thoroughly explored instruments into unexplored territory. Even though dance and electronic music is the focus of her compositions, she also infuses them with elements of classical, rock, jazz, world, hip hop, and cinematic to create a truly unique form of art and sound.
In her words, “There are emotions, modern emotions that at times, require expressive elements apart from song or symphony. In my compositions and performance, the violin is the visual and acoustic centerpiece about which I try to bring out beauty, energy and emotion from the raw musical elements. I like to blend the energy and visual appeal of dance with the exciting array of sounds you can produce on the violin – both acoustically and electrically. The violin is amazingly versatile and impulsive, and whether I am playing in a nightclub or performing on a huge stage, I love seeing that energy reflected in my audience.”
Links
