The Illharmonic Orchestra is a collaboration between musician Jeffrey McNeill and his partner Andrea Coln. The musicians, who perform as The Phantom and Phoenix, combine hip-hop with classical music. They will bring their pieces to Charlotte this month.
WFAE’s Elvis Menayese interviewed Phoenix and Phantom before to their performance. He began by discussing Phantom’s childhood, describing how, at the age of 13, he played the piano and flute and combined Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with a Beastie Boys song.
Phantom: I spent many hours sitting in front of the record player as a child, simply flipping through the vinyl and losing myself in music since my father had an enormous record collection that included everything from Motown to Mozart. My childhood wasn’t exactly the best. Growing up in North Philadelphia, we were quite impoverished, but music ended up becoming a kind of escape for me.
MenayeseWhen you were walking home late from a party in Philadelphia as a teenager, I heard you claim that music truly saved your lives and the lives of your friends. Would you be able to transport us to that evening?
Phantom: In reality, we were returning home from a farewell party for a friend. When he joined the military, the crack epidemic was at its worst. Additionally, we came across the infamous North Philadelphia stick-up kids when we saw a car moving slowly. This guy jumps out with what appears to be an umbrella because it had a strap after (they) passed us and pulled up halfway up the street. We didn’t understand it was a sawed-off shotgun until he woke us up.
All we had was the fare for the bus, and he kind of held it to our heads, demanding the money we had in our pockets. However, he knew me from a house party that my DJ and I had hosted. He decided to let us go because we would perform at house parties in North Philadelphia using our demo tape. Before he got in the car, he told me to keep rhyming, and I haven’t stopped since.
Menayese You said that you were exposed to a shotgun together with your pal. How did you feel about witnessing that at such a young age?
Phantom:You know you might not be able to accomplish everything you wish to do. Who will inform my mother that I have left?
MenayeseSince founding the orchestra in the 2000s, you and your spouse have given concerts all throughout the nation, including in Miami, Dallas, and Seattle. You two played at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2015. Jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan performed there, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. even gave a speech. What was the significance of your performance there, Phantom?
Phantom: Image. opening the door to music, other genres, and other things of that like. I spent a good deal of time attempting to get into Carnegie Hall. And lastly, following numerous formal letters stating that they were either no or not at this time. I want to know if I can rent it.
Menayese: One of the songs you sang that day was “Sweet Dreams,” which combines Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech with a classic song from the British duo Eurythmics from the 1980s. What does your interpretation of the song mean to you, Phantom, and what did you hope to evoke in listeners’ imaginations with lyrics like: Did you ever dream you’ll see a Black president?
Phantom: I was sort of looking for something that spoke to both the past and the era we were living in. I recall having trouble with the third stanza after writing the first two, and then Trayvon Martin appeared. And that served as something of a motivator for me to compose the third verse.
MenayeseAnd what particular aspect of the Trayvon Martin case resonated with you the most?
Phantom: As a young Black man, I grew up during the period when the Central Park Five or the Exonerated Five occurred. We are similar in age, so it might have been me witnessing that happen and realizing that racism in America still exists.
Menayese: Phoenix, you enter the track halfway through. When you sang the song in a place with so much history in your hometown, what feelings did you experience?
Phoenix: When it comes to classical music and similar events, Carnegie is undoubtedly one of the most well-known venues in the world. Once more, it was the kind of experience one can only imagine to be in that setting and perform music that is distinctly unique.
MenayeseWhy do you consider it to be music that is perceived as different?
Phoenix: The people who decide what constitutes music, known as gatekeepers, have always viewed hip-hop with skepticism. Additionally, it was considered terrible music for many years, even for a few decades. Because it’s simple to label when you don’t comprehend what’s being put into that music, it was perceived as demeaning to us and as demonstrating our violent, irate, and criminal tendencies.
MenayesePhoenix, you may play the flute and piano in addition to singing. How you and Phantom met intrigues me.
Phoenix: What’s interesting is that I didn’t meet Phantom in a musical context.
Menayese: Whoa! Really?
Phoenix: In no manner, shape, or form did we meet in a musical situation. Like most individuals, you occasionally have to accept a job in order to pursue your artistic goals. At some point, you need to accept a different job that will help you pay your expenses, make ends meet, and do other things. It may surprise you to learn that we met in a store. In Philadelphia, we were both employed at the same location. We met, we encountered each other, we had a brief connection for a moment in time, and then Phantom wound up leaving … and then we were both at a club about a year or so later, and were joined together again. ‘Hey, do you remember me?’ was the general sentiment. It wasn’t until we started dating a few weeks later, after that encounter, that we both realized how much music was a part of our skin.
MenayeseThere s one song you both produced called Double Trouble that captures the energy, versatility and confidence you both possess. Let s listen to the track that features instrumentals from Italian composer Gioachino Rossini.
One of my personal favorite pieces you ve covered is known as Big Poppa, a track by the Notorious B.I.G., or otherwise known as Biggie Smalls. Smalls was a hip-hop icon. Phoenix, do you think Smalls would have anything to talk about with a musical genius like Beethoven, assuming they could meet? What do you imagine they d talk about? Could they even jam together?
Phoenix: Definitely. Biggie was masterful at putting words together and putting them together in a way that was poetry. A lot of classical music has poetic roots or has poetry about it. And I think they could have definitely had a jam session, and could have connected over beats, and people forget that Beethoven was a little bit hardcore.
Phantom:Beethoven was a gangster!
Menayese:Haha!
Phoenix:Ahah, I think they definitely could and would have hit it off quite well.
MenayesePhoenix, this will be the first time the Illharmonic Orchestra performs in Charlotte. What do you hope listeners take away?
Phoenix:There is no shortage of negativity in this time in history. People need the things that continue to give them happiness, hope, light, even if it s for two hours in a dark theater. That you can walk out feeling uplifted in some sort of way. That s really what we strive for. If you see yourself reflected or represented, and that gives you that hope, that s what we want. Even if it s the one person who gets touched by that. We ve done what we set out to do.
You can watch Thee Phantom and Phoenix, the duo behind the Illharmonic Orchestra, at theKnight Theateron Aug.24.
