The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is performing a crossover of Romantic Russian composer, Tchaikovsky, and modern rapper, Drake, this weekend.
On March 4, at the Morton H. Meyers Symphony Center, crowds will gather to watch the performance entitled, “The Music of Tchaikovsky X Drake,” created and conducted by Steve Hackman.
It is of note that the concert is featuring Drake music, and is, in fact, not a performance by Drake.
The evening starts at 6:30 p.m. with a cocktail reception, followed by the performance at 8 p.m. and an after-party at 9:30 p.m. Along with your ticket purchase, you get access to the cocktail reception, concert, and after-party, as well as one free specialty cocktail.
Hackman told NBC 5 that he sees similarities between the two seemingly different artists.
“These are both actually very romantic, very sentimental, very [heart-on-the-sleeve] composers that are very forthright with those emotions. I thought it’d be interesting to kind of juxtapose them and explore that commonality,” he explained.
Hackman suggested to NBC 5 that today, “anything’s combinable.”
He further told the news outlet, “I’ve been doing this for a while and I developed a technique of how to put things together, it’s really a question of do they belong together, and should you combine them, and is it a worthwhile task and you know, will it be fruitful and will it result in, you know, a new perspective on the music and some sort of new realizations about the music.”
This is part of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s goal to make its performances appeal to people from all walks of life and all ages.
Plus, people who may go to the performance because of their interest in Drake alone can be exposed to Tchaikovsky as well, and vice versa.
Hackman calls this “an incredible opportunity … to showcase, you know, that repertoire and what that orchestra can do and what classical music can do and how emotional and powerful it can be.”
The performance is a part of the Young Professionals program at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Members receive various perks, including free concert tickets, musician meet and greets, and access to a members-only bar at events.
Those who join the group help provide instruments and music to school-aged children in the North Texas region.
There is a limited number of tickets available for the upcoming Drake-Tchaikovsky fusion, starting at $150.
You can purchase tickets here.