In 1987, a few years after his Father exposed him to “Rappers Delight” and his Mother placed him in flute and piano lessons, a young man had a brilliant idea to combine Hip-Hop and Classical Music. He would take Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” and the Beastie Boys’ “Paul Revere” and mix them together on his double tape deck stereo.
So pleased with what he had created, he rushed to his best friends house and immediately played it for him. Within seconds, his friend stopped the tape, ejected it and threw it across the room, shouting, “that will never work”.
Today, that young man performs as Thee Phantom alongside his wife, The Phoenix, as they lead their own ensemble aptly titled, The Illharmonic Orchestra. The group has been bringing their brand of B-Boy Meets Beethoven to concert halls since 2000, gracing the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, to name a few.
Phantom & Phoenix recently took to the stage at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, backed by 50 musicians from the Amazon Symphony Orchestra and rocked the house.
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