Hip-hop violinist Josh Vietti will perform at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Touhill Center at UMSL.

Josh Vietti is not your typical classically trained violinist. That has less to do with his preferred laidback stage attire (usually including a baseball cap and T-shirt) than his sound. The hip-hop violinist is making a name for himself as a genre-defying artist less likely to play Tchaikovsky than Kanye or “Kashmir.”

Vietti began playing violin at age 4, studied with Los Angeles Philharmonic virtuoso Mischa Lefkowitz for 10 years and then played around LA as a street performer. He’s since graduated to playing before millions on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and warming the stage for artists as diverse as Ne-Yo, Fabolous and Earth, Wind and Fire.

He’ll headline a show that will begin at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Presented by the University Program Board, the concert is free and open to the public.

Click here or below to watch Vietti’s “Hip Hop Violin Medley.”