
MAHLER X NOTORIOUS B.I.G. X 2PAC
About This Event
Composer-conductor Steve Hackman weaves Mahler's Resurrection Symphony together with Biggie and Tupac's biggest tracks — 'Juicy,' 'California Love,' 'Hypnotize' — performed live by a full orchestra. Sounds like a novelty on paper; audiences elsewhere have called it one of the most genuinely moving concert experiences they've had.
Hackman trained as a conductor at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute, one of classical music's most selective schools, before building an entire career out of an idea most conservatories would consider a joke: full evening-length mashups pairing symphonic composers with pop and hip-hop artists — Brahms with Radiohead, Beethoven with Coldplay, Copland with Bon Iver. This particular piece, officially titled The Resurrection Mixtape, has been called one of the most daring experiments in modern orchestral music, and Hackman has conducted it and his other mashups to sellout houses at major orchestras across the country, from Philadelphia to Seattle to the Boston Pops.
Worth knowing: showtime is 7:30 PM, and tickets start at $38 — genuinely affordable for a full orchestra performance, check harristheaterchicago.org for seating.
