Steve Hackman Conducts His Stravinsky x Kendrick Lamar

Steve Hackman brings two very different records to the same stage at Powell Hall on Wednesday, June 9, 2027. He'll be conducting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky x Kendrick Lamar, a program that pairs Igor Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka with Kendrick Lamar's Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN.

It's a strange pairing on paper—early 20th-century Russian ballet and modern West Coast hip-hop—but Hackman's SYMPHONYFUSE is built on exactly that kind of collision. The two works run alongside each other throughout the night, with Lamar's songs unfolding against Stravinsky's score. You'll hear tracks like "DNA.", "HUMBLE.", "LOVE.", "XXX" and "FEAR." woven into the orchestral arrangement.

There's a through-line to the two. The program notes describe it as a fearless orchestral journey linked by a "show-within-a-show" structure, with both works following protagonists struggling with identity, reality and power. The ballet's vivid score and Lamar's lyrics end up talking to each other rather than just sitting side by side.

The concert is part of the SLSO's 2026/27 season—its 147th—under Music Director Stéphane Denève. It runs from 7:30 PM and lasts about an hour and 40 minutes, including intermission. Afterward, the night continues with the SLSO's After Party, a post-concert hang in the lobby that doesn't require an additional ticket, though the featured artists don't appear there. The whole thing takes place at Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center in St. Louis.