Hip-hop + classical = Thee Phantom and The llharmonic Orchestra, performing Thursday, Sept. 25!

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What happens when hip-hop meets classical? Or is it when classical meets hip-hop? Anything can happen, and it will, when Thee Phantom and The Illharmonic Orchestra take the stage Thursday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. at the Colonial Theater in downtown Boston.

The musical phenomenon is the creation of Thee Phantom, a.k.a. Jeffrey M. McNeill; and Phoenix, a.k.a. Andrea Coln. The husband and wife’s love of music — all music — led to establishing The Illharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra is a collection of musicians who can discover the ties and contradictions, melodies and dissonance and genre-busting chords and discord between rap and classical music. But what is happening? What happens musically in the original compositions and when the orchestra performs live? The Banner spoke with Thee Phantom and Phoenix from their home in Queens, New York City, to find out.

Banner: What is a hip-hop orchestra?

Thee Phantom: True to hip-hop, our orchestra has two MCs at the forefront and a DJ in the back spinning the tracks. The music is a combination of old-school hip-hop classics as well as new compositions generated by me and my wife. The musical influences range from Motown to Mozart.

The Illharmonic Orchestra. COURTESY PHOTO

How many musicians are in the orchestra? Can you break down the sections?

Thee Phantom: We usually have 18 to 25 musicians on stage, two to three vocalists and one DJ. We’ve performed with as many as 50 musicians. The orchestra is a combination of strings, horns, woodwinds and piano.

What exactly will happen on Sept. 25 at your show?

Thee Phantom: It’s going to be a house party and a concert hall. We’re going to engage the audience — singing and clapping and dancing in the seats and aisles. It will be a very interactive performance.

What sort of music did you hear at home as a child?

Phoenix: Oh, lots of music, it was very, very expansive and covered lots of different genres. Such as Wes Montgomery, Roy Hargrove, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, tunes from the ’50s and ’60s, the Drifters and even Connie Francis.

What influence did growing up in Queens have on your musical and personal development?

Phoenix: I was a nerdy Catholic school kid and music grounded me. I felt like an outsider because most of the other kids went to public school. It offered healing and solace. And a way to express myself; nowadays, I’m a vocalist and MC.

The creation of Thee Phantom, a.k.a. Jeffrey M. McNeill; and Phoenix, a.k.a. Andrea Coln, The Illharmonic Orchestra blends hip-hop and orchestral arrangements into a joyful, high-energy and interactive performance. COURTESY PHOTO

How do you two collaborate on compositions and performances?

Thee Phantom: On the musical side, I score and arrange. It’s the perfect collaboration: if I start to go off the deep end, my wife will reel me in.

Does improvisation take place when you’re performing music?

Phoenix: Within the composition of the actual songs, there’s not a ton of improvisation. We’ve shown and improved them over the years. But when we perform, we’ve built improvisation into our interaction with audiences. The audiences become a part of what’s happening. A lot is guided by that interaction, and we have very, very gifted musicians in our orchestra. Everything can happen at once. The magic happens.

Jeffrey [Thee Phantom], you’ve been quoted as saying, “Beethoven was a gangster.” What do you mean?

Thee Phantom: Beethoven was a rock star of his time. He would crush his rivals, and took full advantage, as a composer and elevated citizen, to rule the roost. He broke barriers.

Phoenix: Beethoven was part of the original music industry. He was outlandish!

Other classical composers you admire? As well as influences on your hip-hop compositions?

Thee Phantom: Vivaldi, Mozart, Dvorák, for example. And growing up in Philadelphia meant growing up in a musical city. Not just my household in north Philly, but the streets. Everything from Hall and Oates to doo-wop. Doo-wop was a big influence on hip-hop.