The catalog of groundbreaking orchestral fusions that Hackman has created, such as Brahms X Radiohead and The Resurrection Mixtape (Mahler X Notorious BIG X Tupac Shakur), were heralded by Seen and Heard International as “among the most daring and innovative modern experiments in avant-classical” music. These fusions are introducing the symphony orchestra to its future audience; he has conducted these pieces to sellout houses at nearly every major orchestra in America, including those of Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, Detroit, Saint Louis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Oregon and the Boston Pops.

Hackman serves as the conductor and curator of the BSO Fusion with the Baltimore Symphony, presenting multiple concerts per year of his fusion productions. He is Creative Director and Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony’s Uncharted Series, one of the most successful Gen-Z and millennial-focused concert experiences in the country. Hackman has been instrumental in the development of this concert series since 2010.

Hackman’s signature blend of classicism and modernism is being increasingly heard at the biggest events in the world; in 2024 alone he was a part of the writing team for the 2024 Academy Awards, collaborated with Charlie Puth, The War and Treaty, and Rickey Minor in arranging the “In Memoriam” segment for the 2024 Emmy Awards, was on the writing team for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, as well as that for Jimmy Carter’s 100th Birthday Celebration. 2024 also saw the American premiere of two of Hackman’s newest orchestral fusions: Beethoven X Beyoncé and Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin X Queen). Hackman is currently collaborating with Moses Sumney on both an album and film project, while also scoring two feature films and developing several Broadway titles.

In 2023 Hackman launched his original music project THE BRINK, a four-part, 300-minute work incorporating elements as wide-ranging as lyric opera and art-song cycles to conceptual hip-hop and experimental electronica. The work, immersive and experiential in nature, is written for a hybrid ensemble implementing strings, woodwinds, brass, synthesizers, multiple vocalists, bass, drums, guitar, piano and multiple keyboards, with Hackman conducting, playing and singing. Chapters I and II premiered at underground performances in March and June of 2023.

Hackman has teamed up with some of the biggest pop superstars of today to add a signature virtuosic and classical dimension to their work. He has collaborated multiple times with Charlie Puth and Steve Lacy, most recently reimagining and conducting Lacy’s repertoire for full orchestra at his tour-culminating show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The sellout performance was streamed live on Amazon Prime. Hackman has also collaborated frequently with Doja Cat, performing with her at the 2021 VMA’s in Brooklyn, following orchestrating and arranging strings for her performances at the Billboard Music Awards and iHeart Radio Music Awards. In December 2019, Hackman collaborated with Kanye West and the Sunday Service Choir in their production of the opera Mary. Hackman contributed as composer, conductor, and orchestrator. The opera had public performances at Art Basel in Miami, Laskey Mesa in Calabasas and Lincoln Center in New York City.

In the Summer of 2022, in a span of three weeks, Hackman created And I Love Her, the music of the Beatles reimagined. It depicts the music of the Beatles through the lens of the women that inspired them and the female characters they invented through their music and lyrics. The two-act production combines the symphony orchestra with an r&b band and four vocalists, as the music careens across the spectrum between classical and pop, from a post-romantic tone-poem reimagining of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ to a funk-and gospel-inspired version of ‘She’s A Woman’.

Hackman has conducted for and collaborated with Andrew Bird, performing on piano at the live taping of the PBS show Articulate, and he is a frequent collaborator with violinist Joshua Bell. Other soloists and ensembles Hackman has composed/arranged for and collaborated with include Hilary Hahn, Dave Koz, Beach Boys, Michael Bolton, Aoife O’Donovan, Storm Large, Carly Rae Jepsen, and choral ensembles Voces 8, Chanticleer, The Tallis Scholars and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. In addition, he has collaborated closely with the group Time for Three for nearly a decade, serving as their music director for a time, producing two of their albums, and penning over fifty arrangements, orchestrations, and compositions. Hackman is a frequent contributor to From the Top, and in 2023 taught his first course on reimagining classical music at the Juilliard School.

In 2001 Hackman applied to Otto Werner Mueller’s conducting studio at the Curtis Institute of Music and Juilliard School; he was the only outside student to be accepted, and was awarded a full scholarship position at the Curtis Institute of Music. He received his advanced diploma at Curtis, where he also studied counterpoint, composition and improvisation under his mentor Dr. Ford Lallerstedt. He subsequently studied conducting with David Zinman at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. He received further training in orchestration from the Broadway orchestrator and composer William Brohn. His undergraduate degree is in piano performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Gustavo Romero.

Hackman is active on social media under the handle @stevehackmanmusic

OCTOBER 2024