Program

Brahms' Symphony #1, mashed up with Radiohead's OK Computer

From Ravinia:

A multi-hyphenate music powerhouse and creative visionary, Steve Hackman is a daring voice intent on redefining art music in the 21st century, “with an innovative brilliance and style reminiscent of the late, great maestro Leonard Bernstein” (On the Aisle). The polymathic conductor and producer coils together 150 years of musical pathos and tension in his fusion of Brahms’s First Symphony with the equally anxious tracks of Radiohead’s OK Computer, leading the CSO and three guest vocalists to confront both the 1876 fears of following up Beethoven and the 1997 fears of entering the internet age in seamless counterpoint.

This boundary-defying approach has not gone unnoticed: Seen and Heard International considers Hackman’s hybrid orchestrations “among the most recent daring experiments in avant-classical,” underscoring how Hackman’s synthesis is not mere juxtaposition but a reimagining, a space where genres, eras, and emotional landscapes collide.

Brahms X Radiohead offers a fresh experience of each work by seeing it through the lens of the other, exploring the explosive tension and deep pathos they have in common. Brahms’ 19th-century orchestral sound palette is used throughout, but woven in, superimposed, and inserted are the melodies and music of Radiohead. Every combination of synthesis is explored in Hackman’s recomposition, as the music moves from one to the other so seamlessly that many times the audience is left wondering which is which, and how the combination was even possible.

Note: Radiohead does not perform on this concert.

From Steve Hackman:

Brahms X. Radiohead is an epic symphonic synthesis of Radiohead’s album OK Computer and the Brahms First Symphony, composed for full symphony orchestra and three solo vocalists. The piece offers a reimagined experience of each work by seeing it through the lens of the other, exploring the explosive tension and deep pathos they have in common. Brahms’ 19th-century orchestral sound palette is used throughout, but woven in, superimposed, and inserted are the melodies and music of Radiohead. At times one hears the themes and lyrics of Radiohead suspended over Brahms’ symphony; at times the orchestra plays the music of Radiohead but filtered through the counterpoint and harmonies of Brahms. Every combination of synthesis is explored in Hackman’s recomposition, as the music moves from one to the other so seamlessly that many times the audience is left wondering which is which, and how the combination was even possible.

Performers

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Steve Hackman, conductor and creator
Kéren Tayar, vocalist
Will Post, vocalist
Andrew Lipke, vocalist

Weather

Temperature 23°C, dew point 21°C (RH 90%), winds 10 km/h northeast, cloudy.

More details