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.
"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 All Things Considered. "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."
Nearly 40 years later, the marriage of those two genres — as well as McNeill's literal marriage to fellow artist Andrea Coln McNeill — are manifest in The Illharmonic Orchestra, which has booked shows in major concert venues across the country over the last two decades.
McNeill — who performs as "Thee Phantom" — and Coln McNeill — who is also known as "The Phoenix" — 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.
"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.
"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 — we know that that talent level exists within the folks that look like us."
And for many of their audiences, the experience can be transformative, said McNeill — on top of being a lot of fun.
"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."
Ahead of a performance at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C., The Illharmonic Orchestra stopped by NPR to offer a special performance.
Listen to the full interview and their performance by clicking on the blue button above, and you can find their performance schedule here.
Audio for this performance chat was engineered by Andie Huether and Tiffany Vera Castro.
The performers with The Illharmonic Orchestra at NPR were:
Andrea Coln McNeill Vocalist
Jeffrey McNeill - Vocalist
Tauhida Smith - Violin
Leanne Holmes - Violin
Jillian Uzuegbu - Violin
Tara Cuffee - Viola
Kaleb Cabell - Cello
Robert Chittams - Bass
Alissa Gittens - Flute/Piccolo
Ronnal Ford - Saxophone/Flute
Xavier Hendon - Trumpet
Robert McIver - Trumpet
Tim Johnson - Trombone
Ashlei Peoples - Keyboards
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