“The bumper stickers have started to pop up around town: ‘I get my beats from Beethoven,’ reads one. ‘Mahler = Baller,’ claims another,” writes Elizabeth Bloom in Sunday’s (6/21) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “They symbolize their creator, Steve Hackman, who is as much an embodiment of classical and contemporary as the project that brought him to Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in an ongoing effort to develop new audiences, may have found a not-so-secret weapon in Mr. Hackman, the creative director of the new FUSE@PSO series…. Hackman will conduct orchestral presentations at Heinz Hall and smaller events in venues throughout Pittsburgh. The series begins on Wednesday with a concert centered on Mr. Hackman’s arrangement of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer.’ Before the concert, attendees can sample food, drinks, games, music and a photo booth in the Heinz Hall Summer Garden…. Artists such as Bjork and Coldplay have been able to expand the language of pop music and still reach a wide audience, Mr. Hackman said. ‘These artists, they have unbelievable musicianship and technique,’ he said. ‘You can argue that they’re the Debussys of today.’ ”
Posted June 23, 2015
