When Dr. Quinton Morris plays his violin for an audience, there’s no doubt he’s connected to the instrument. With his eyes closed, right hand on the bow, Morris seamlessly strings notes together creating a beautiful sound. The two are a fine-tuned team.
“It allows me the opportunity to be able to express myself in a way that I can’t any other way except on that instrument,” Morris said. “And that’s an honor.”
Morris has performed on stages across the world and teaches at Seattle University. In January, he is bringing his talents to a new audience in South King County.
Morris is opening Key to Change Studio, a music studio where he will teach middle and high school students violin in Renton and Maple Valley. The studio is open to everyone, but Morris is focused on students of color.
“I know what it’s like being a person of color and playing a European instrument. I understand the challenges that a 12- or 13-year-old or 14-year-old, 15 or whatever faces. I get it. Because that was me a long time ago,” Morris said. “I want to be able to provide assistance to students who can’t afford lessons. Who are really passionate about getting better on their instruments but just don’t have the necessary resources to afford it.”
The students who enroll in his classes will also work with Morris’ Seattle U students who will act as peer mentors, perform in quarterly recitals and attend workshops on the college application process. The school is currently accepting applications.
Morris’ schedule is full of activity. He says he works when everyone else is sleeping. He’s done a TEDx talk on artist entrepreneurship, performed in front of sold-out crowds at Carnegie Hall three times and received numerous awards and accolades.
Morris began playing the violin in the third grade when he was just 8 years old. At the time, all of his classmates played an instrument. In the coming years, his mother encouraged him to keep playing because she believed the violin would open doors for him.
“My mom always told me, ‘Look, play violin and keep your grades up; it’ll get you to college.’ She was right. She was so right,” Morris said. “She said, ‘You never know, it might take you around the world.’”
His mother’s words of encouragement became a self-fulfilling prophecy. In September, Morris wrapped up a world tour called “Breakthrough,” which took him around the globe to play for audiences in Australia, Malaysia and Tanzania, just to name a few. While flying to different countries, he still maintained his teaching responsibilities at Seattle University and got married. Morris described the experience of traveling the world as incredible. He was able to interact with people from different cultures he normally wouldn’t encounter.
“It was probably one of the most fulfilling things that I’ve ever done in my entire professional career. It was amazing on so many levels,” Morris said. “Working with children from all these different areas, understanding how they learn, how they are passionate about music. It changed me. It changed me in a way that a textbook or a book that I would’ve been reading never would’ve been able to do.”
The concerts he performed were innovative in that he shared classical music with each audience in a nontraditional way. Morris performed, lectured and showed a film at the end.
“I performed the music of this African French composer named Joseph Bologne, who is better known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges,” Morris said. “This is a man who had such a huge influence on French classical music, fought in the French Revolutionary War, was born on the island Guadeloupe and had an enormous career. He’s credited as being one of the first Black classical musicians.”
He played the role of Chevalier de Saint-Georges in the film Morris and a crew shot at the Louvre and Versailles castle to tell the composer’s story.
In addition to performing in venues, Morris also celebrated 20 years of being cancer-free while on tour. He found out he had cancer shortly after turning 18.
“I had an advanced stage of Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” Morris said. “In every country I went to, I visited with families and sick children and played for them in hospitals. It was so great. It was so liberating.”
In November, he received the Young Arts Leader award from Gov. Jay Inslee. During the Arts and Heritage awards ceremony Morris played “Melodie” by Gluck. Then, with the help of a DJ, he transitioned into a hip-hop medley of songs by Beyoncé, Rihanna and Drake. Hearing R&B, pop and hip-hop on a violin is an unforgettable experience. Morris said it was a throwback to his days as a member and artistic director of Young Eight, a string octet of Black artists.
Morris credits his success with knowing who he is and what he has to offer.
“I think when you know what your life’s purpose is and when you know what you’re put on Earth to do, then you go after that,” Morris said. “I think that is why I’ve been able to do so many things because I’m always tapped into who I am. I’m always tapped into my personal and my professional mission.”
