“Rap icon Kanye West and classical legend Ludwig van Beethoven are, at first glance, polar musical opposites,” writes Raisa Bruner in Thursday’s (12/14) Time magazine. “But one project, dubbed Yeethoven, is bringing their music together … in L.A. on Dec. 14 and in New York City on Jan. 18…. Yeethoven II is now in its second year, after a sold-out 2016 concert…. Yuga Cohler, one of the project’s creators, regularly conducts the [L.A.-based] Young Musicians Foundation Debut Chamber Orchestra, while Johan is an independent artist and producer and arranger for hip-hop and pop acts. Q: How do you create music that’s a true dialogue? Cohler: We’ll go through the track listings of [Kanye West albums] … Johan: … Then we figure out a way to add the Beethoven.… We want people to recognize each piece of material separately before they start to hear them intertwined. Q: What do you hope audiences take away from listening to this? Cohler: One of the really positive aspects of the show in 2016 was that so many different types of people came. It was definitely not your typical hip-hop or pop [or] classical concert. Johan: Those same people who were applauding at Kanye were also applauding at Beethoven.”
Posted December 18, 2017
