Manny Apea busts genres for a “modern twist” on playing violin

Like many children who grew up in the aughts, Emmanuel “Manny” Apea has his share of memories of PBS. Still, what stands out to Apea, in addition to many millennial and Gen Z favorite PBS Kids shows, were the classical music performances. Growing up in Maryland, he would watch with his mother, and Apea told Pittsburgh City Paper that she’d point to the solo and orchestral performances on-screen and tell him he was capable of similar mastery. In elementary school, he’d begin lessons, and it was the beginning of a lifelong love of the violin and music. “[The violin’s] intended purpose was these classical passages written for kings and feudal folks who had power in the feudal hierarchy and that kind of thing, and the fact that we can take it and put our modern twist on it, it’s just a fun juxtaposition, I would say, of what it was intended for, and what we’ve turned it into,” Apea says. From ages 6 to 13, Apea took lessons and even joined the orchestra until college pulled his focus away. What led him back to a world of bows and treble clefs was the COVID-19 pandemic. While he was searching for a way to pass the time during the 2020 quarantine, he decided to revisit the violin.  What’s kept him playing long after the restrictions have been lifted is the chance to perform in public. Sometimes, that means an evening spent at the BURN by Rocky Patel Pittsburgh cigar lounge; other times it takes him to weddings and school assemblies.  “What keeps me going is that crowd reaction, the ability to share and express myself in the purest way I know how, and that’s through music and being able to jam with just about anybody,” Apea says. “Just being able to perform for people and show people that there’s more to violin than just classical pieces, and [that] you can put hip hop in them — you can really do any genre, reggaeton, reggae, Latin, R&B. R&B is heavily requested on my booking form for weddings and cocktail hours, parties, and events