For several years the multi-hyphenate composer, conductor, producer, DJ, arranger, songwriter, singer, 

and pianist has been on an artistic campaign to bridge the works of contemporary popular artists with the masters of classical music.

As an artist, he grew up in both spaces and values them equally.

“Everybody in classical music has to be an advocate and an ambassador to activate your community,” Hackman said.

He has become internationally renowned for such orchestral fusions

as Brahms X Radiohead and The Resurrection Mixtape (Mahler X Notorious BIG X Tupac Shakur).

And although he didn’t come right out and explicitly say so, he’s also a member of the BeyHive. 

When he started explaining the origins of his latest creation– which will play the Stifel Theatre thanks to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra next Sunday – he didn’t need to.

“Simply put, Beyoncé is the queen and Beethoven is the king,” Hackman said.

One might ask, “The king and queen of what?” It’s a fair question. And the answer is dance music.  

St. Louis audiences will find out for themselves on June 23 when Hackman comes to town with a band and powerhouse vocalists to present and conduct Beethoven X Beyoncé.

“I looked at Beyoncé’s work and I just tried to identify, ‘If you could create a playlist of Beyoncé songs, what are the essential ones,’” Hackman said. “The ones that show how groundbreaking and era-defining she is – and how she has become this leading figure and voice in pop culture.”

The piece merges his ultimate Beyoncé playlist – which includes 14 essential tracks and fan favorites with Beethoven’s 7th Symphony.

“There are songs you know you are going to have to do – just like with Beethoven it’s going to be 3rd Symphony, 5th Symphony, 7th Symphony and 9th symphony,” Hackman said. “With Beyoncé, you know you are doing ‘Run The World.’ You know you are going to do ‘Single Ladies,’ ‘Halo’ and ‘Crazy in Love.’

Then there are the songs that might not necessarily be hits, but they are the songs that the die-hard fans – like Hackman – know are her best.

“Songs like ‘Formation,’ ‘Sorry’ or ‘Daddy’s Lessons,’” Hackman said. “Hold Up” is also on his “Beyoncé essentials” playlist. “That was just, ‘Oh my gosh. I can’t believe what she has done’.”

He includes “Run the World” as a favorite because it perfectly aligns with her identity, her brand and message with respect to female empowerment.

There was a method to his selection process that also included tracks that perfectly illustrated the possibility for creating a fusion experience between Beyoncé and Beethoven. All in all, Hackman’s list runs the gamut from Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love” solo debut, to her most recent album “Cowboy Carter.”

Hackman and his musical team premiered the work last week in Indianapolis.

“It proved that Beethoven’s 7th [Symphony] was the right piece to act as a canvas onto which these fusions would overlay – and I’m so excited about it.”

He was eager to point out that the 7th Symphony was famously called the apotheosis of dance by famed composer Richard Wagner.

“It’s one of the most joyful, energetic, frenetic pieces and it’s Beethoven interpolating all of the dance rhythms of the day – and doing it in the way only he can,” Hackman said.

“And Beyoncé has done that with all her albums. Dance is such a huge part of who she is as an artist and of her music. And with different albums she takes on different forms of music and different styles.”

At the same time that Hackman was matriculating through his classical training, he kept his finger on the pulse of popular music and other genres as he developed his skills as a singer/songwriter.

“That notion of, ‘do we, or do we not have to pick a side,’ is at the crux of my personal artistic identity and journey,” Hackman said. “And it continues to be a dilemma for me, because there are so many things that I want to do within music and they are spanning across these two possibly parallel, but separate tracks.

As much as people have advised me that I have to pick one, I’ve never been willing to relinquish one side of me. I have rebelled against that idea from the very beginning.”

The more he brings the worlds together, the more he sees their similarities.

“If we take this far enough, they can all be a part of the same musical landscape – and I can find a way to do it all.”

He proves as much with this work.

“The second movement of the 7th Symphony is the probably most perfect movement ever composed,” Hackman said. “It’s mournful, but it’s beautiful – and that’s what I paired with ‘Halo.’ The dialogue between Beyoncé and Beethoven that I had hoped for and the respective deepening for the other’s music that I was hoping for, I do think was achieved.”

According to him, a fusion of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony and the music of Beyonce played by a world-class orchestra and six phenomenal guest artists – bass, drums, piano, guitar and three vocalists is an easy sell.

“The magic is how it is going to be in how it will all be mixed together,” said Hackman. “Every combination is explored.  The ratio of how much of this is Beethoven and how much is Beyonce is constantly shifting.”

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Source: Los Angeles Times