KJZZ: Composer: ‘If you know every word to a Tupac or Biggie song, I can get you into Mahler’

Some might not think Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, known as the Resurrection Symphony, and Tupac Shakur’s hit “California Love” would go together. But Steve Hackman does.

He’s a composer, conductor and producer and the creator of The Resurrection Mixtape, which will be performed Saturday-Sunday, May 18-19, at Phoenix Symphony Hall. It features music from Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. as well as Mahler.

Hackman has done other musical mashups as well, including Brahms vs. Radiohead and Tchaikovsky vs. Drake. He says he’s created around 15 symphony fusion productions over the last decade or so.