{"id":6547,"date":"2026-07-24T21:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T21:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=6547"},"modified":"2026-07-24T21:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T21:11:21","slug":"how-the-illharmonics-mix-of-hip-hop-and-classical-builds-community-one-show-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=6547","title":{"rendered":"How The Illharmonic’s mix of hip-hop and classical builds community, one show at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Vocalist and composer Jeffrey McNeill says it was back in 1987, when he was still a kid, when he first started hearing the links between hip-hop and classical music.<\/p>\n

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“I was put in flute and piano lessons as a child, and my father introduced me to The Sugarhill Gang, ‘Rapper’s Delight,'” McNeill explained in an interview with . “One day, my brother brought home the Beastie Boys’ ‘Paul Revere,’ and to me, it sounded like it went perfectly with Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.”<\/p>\n

Nearly 40 years later, the marriage of those two genres \u2014 as well as McNeill’s literal marriage to fellow artist Andrea Coln McNeill \u2014 are manifest in The Illharmonic Orchestra, which has booked shows in major concert venues across the country over the last two decades.<\/p>\n

McNeill \u2014 who performs as “Thee Phantom” \u2014 and Coln McNeill \u2014 who is also known as “The Phoenix” \u2014 blend hip-hop and R&B vocals with live horns, woodwinds, strings and percussion, performed by all-Black orchestral ensembles. That representation in classical music performance is a key goal for the group’s leaders.<\/p>\n

“It was really important for us to show that these two genres are not as completely different as people think they are,” Coln McNeill told NPR’s Juana Summers during a visit to NPR headquarters.<\/p>\n

Read more Piles of cash and a town of solutions in Kenya, Nigeria (Summer School)<\/a><\/p>\n

“Even in 2026, some of the major symphony orchestras still are really lacking in diversity. But there’s clearly a reflection that those individuals exist. We play with them all the time,” she explained. “Folks who look like us, who play these instruments, who have the training, who have been to the conservatory, who have the Ph.D.s, or self-taught \u2014 we know that that talent level exists within the folks that look like us.”<\/p>\n

And for many of their audiences, the experience can be transformative, said McNeill \u2014 on top of being a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

“It’s a house party in a concert hall. It’s a community experience,” he said. “And it has helped the performances so much that the people actually get it, and they connect with the music and they connect with us, and they see us on stage and they see themselves in us on stage. And that’s really kind of what’s kept us going for this long.”<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The performers with The Illharmonic Orchestra at NPR were:<\/p>\n

Andrea Coln McNeill Vocalist<\/p>\n

Jeffrey McNeill – Vocalist<\/p>\n

Tauhida Smith – Violin<\/p>\n

Leanne Holmes – Violin<\/p>\n

Jillian Uzuegbu – Violin<\/p>\n

Tara Cuffee – Viola<\/p>\n

Kaleb Cabell – Cello<\/p>\n

Robert Chittams – Bass<\/p>\n

Alissa Gittens – Flute\/Piccolo<\/p>\n

Ronnal Ford – Saxophone\/Flute<\/p>\n

Xavier Hendon – Trumpet<\/p>\n

Robert McIver – Trumpet<\/p>\n

Tim Johnson – Trombone<\/p>\n

Ashlei Peoples – Keyboards<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Illharmonic Orchestra’s performances blend hip-hop lyricism with classical instrumentation, and feature all-Black musical ensembles. The group’s leaders speak with NPR’s Juana Summers about how they build community around their high-energy performances and represent musicians and audiences in spaces where they may have not traditionally felt welcomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\nHow The Illharmonic's mix of hip-hop and classical builds community, one show at a time - Best USA Movers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=6547\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How The Illharmonic's mix of hip-hop and classical builds community, one show at a time - Best USA Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Illharmonic Orchestra's performances blend hip-hop lyricism with classical instrumentation, and feature all-Black musical ensembles. 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