Steve Hackman – Courtesy of Tom Russo. Used with permission.
Celebrated as “A multi-hyphenate music powerhouse and creative visionary, “composer, conductor, producer, DJ, arranger, songwriter, singer, and pianist Steve Hackman leads the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on September 18, 2024, to the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis for a new fusion concert. This season’s first Uncharted Series work is “Gershwin X Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue” featuring George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody:” two of the most popular compositions in the history of music.
According to an ISO press release “Each work challenged the traditions of their medium by thrillingly combining disparate genres of music: Queen fusing classical, opera, and vaudeville with rock and roll, and Gershwin melding classical with jazz and musical theatre. Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue follows this tradition by combining the pieces themselves, aligning and synthesizing their many kaleidoscopic musical sections to create a cohesive new whole that is at once Gershwin and Queen, and leaves us marveling at the genius of the original compositions.
I reached out to Hackman recently via email to ask him for more information about the cont. Below are answers to a few questions I posed.
Steve Hackman – Courtesy of Tom Russo. Used with permission.
Is “Bohemian Rhapsody” in Blue a premiere?
These performances (the Baltimore Symphony this weekend, then Indianapolis Symphony next week) are the US premiere of the piece. We have only played it one time, and that was in Germany in 2021.
What inspired you to compose this piece?
During the pandemic, I did a weekly broadcast via Instagram and Facebook Live, each week pairing a different composer and artist, fusing piano repertoire with popular songs. The theme of the final broadcast was “Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue,” a fusion of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The idea of combining them dated from a few years back; it had been on my list for a while, and the pandemic gave me the opportunity to work on it. That little broadcast went very well, and the response to the piece was quite good; that inspired me to build a whole production around the theme of Gershwin and Queen.
Are there vocalists and musicians appearing with you?
Indeed. Three vocalists are joining us: Casey Breves, Malia Civetz and Andrew Lipke. Casey and Malia joined that original broadcast during the pandemic, ‘dialing in’ to the show and singing! Then we have a phenomenal pianist, Ahmed Alom.
What do you hope your audience will take away after hearing this composition?
‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ are so ubiquitous and omnipresent that we can take them for granted. We overlook what creative risks they were. In fact, the concert that heard the premiere of “Rhapsody” was called “Experiments in Modern Music.” It was not supposed to sound that easy to fuse jazz and classical music; it had not ever been done that successfully. Yet Gershwin did it. And in the case of Queen, they were taking an enormous creative risk in combining opera, theatrical and vaudeville styles with rock. Imagine how badly that could have turned out… yet it is one of the most universal pieces of songwriting ever. This is why I wanted to combine the two: to highlight their innovative brilliance and genius of technique, and highlight the creative risks taken.
What current activities and projects are you are working on?
It is a busy start to the concert season already, but I am grateful to be able to perform these fusion works with such terrific orchestras. When not on the podium with these productions, I am either composing my own music or recording it in the studio. August was a wonderful month spent composing.
For tickets and information about “Gershwin X Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue,” presented by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, visit indianapolissymphony.org.
