Pittsburgh Symphony & Pittsburgh rapper Frzy to collaborate on first-of-its-kind concert

PITTSBURGH ― On several rainy occasions while waiting for the bus, Harvey “Frzy” Daniels stayed dry by standing under the Heinz Hall marquee.

On Nov. 8, his name will appear on that marquee, in big bright lights, touting his concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

"It's unbelievable," said Daniels, who under his stage name Frzy will make local history, performing the premiere of an orchestration of his soon-to-drop album “Success.” This is the first time that a full orchestration of a rap album will be performed by the Grammy Award-garnering Pittsburgh Symphony.

The 90-minute concert starts at 7:30 p.m., featuring Frzy and his band The Faculty, joined by DJ Solo, an all-star Pittsburgh church choir and the full Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of PSO Associate Conductor Moon Doh.

Tickets cost $25-$65 at pittsburghsymphony.org, by phone at 412-492-4900, or in person at the Heinz Hall box office, 600 Penn Ave., downtown.

"This is nuts. You know how many times I ran past Heinz Hall trying to make the Negley (bus)? Quick, I got to get to the 71A," Frzy, a native of Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood, said.

Frzy calls this concert "my love letter to Pittsburgh," and delights in the timing, as the world celebrates hip hop's 50th anniversary.

“I've always had a dream of doing a show with a symphony," Frzy said. "I'm a big Jay-Z fan, and you know he did it in London. But I thought I'd need about 20 more years in my career before I'd have the opportunity."

The PSO and Frzy first collaborated this past June, for a Juneteenth celebration at Heinz Hall conducted by PSO Principal Pops Conductor Byron Stripling. At that concert, the nationally recognized rapper and the PSO premiered “What Do I Know,” Frzy’s original recording featuring violinist Alexandra Cutler-Fetkewicz from the Philadelphia Pops.

"That song is about me growing up in the city and being a young, Black teen and I've gone on and accomplished all these things, yet people won't take my advice," Frzy said. "It allowed us to put it in front of a crowd and it really showed the symphony cares about Black culture."

That one-song performance lit a creative fire, driving Frzy and the PSO to conceive a full-scale show together.

The Nov. 8 conductor, Doh, said, "We decided not to put mics on the orchestra. In the classical sense, there will be a purely orchestral sound. There is not going to be that DJ sound the whole time, so in order to replicate that sound with just instruments, that could be a challenge. But that could also be an opportunity for Frzy's voice to be heard throughout the hall. It's a big hall, right? We don't just intend to be an accompaniment to Frzy, we want to be a collaborator on stage and actually showcase the power of a truly great orchestra."

The orchestra's drums, bass and brass will attain the staccato groove of rap music.

When you hear Frzy and Doh speaking together, you get a palpable sense there's a shared chemistry.

"Moon and I not only click age-wise, but within cultures and being in a space that doesn't have a lot of minorities," Frzy, 37, said. "But also in a space where we can flex, and I can learn."

Speaking in a joint Teams interview Oct. 23, Doh and Frzy talked enthusiastically about the concert, which was still in various iterations of smaller rehearsals.

"I'm such a nerd, you're going to laugh, but it's very much Power Rangers right now," Frzy said. "We haven't become Megazord yet, but everyone's calling the Zords in."

Superheroes and action films inspire his lyric writing, which will mesh with orchestral arrangements composed by Christian Kriegeskotte, a veteran Hollywood studio orchestra musician whose credits include "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" and the Nicktoons Nitro video game. A Carnegie Mellon grad, Kriegeskotte is part of the Popular Programming staff at the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Kriegeskotte composed the concert's leadoff selection, "The Frzy Theme."

"The piece he made is basically my superhero theme music," Frzy said. "It sounds a little Avengers, a little Wakanda, and little references to some video games. He took a bit of the influences from who I am as a person, and a nerd, and really gave me my theme. Like when Wonder Woman comes on screen, you know it's her."

For a symphony that's entertained audiences performing the cinematic classics of composer John Williams and other blockbuster films, there's a built-in comfort level.

"Classical musicians do this all the time," Doh said. "Classical composers like Wagner. Christian and I were talking about this: This is the leitmotif for Frzy. So whenever this theme comes up, everyone's going to know, 'Oh, this is the Frzy theme.' It's a very catchy few notes that repeats itself. It's amazing. Lots of superhumaness involved in this three- or four-minute piece."

Visuals matter, too, so Frzy will hit the stage in a stunning, custom suit, designed by Tom Michael at Larrimor’s, a Pittsburgh fashion destination since 1939.

As for the audience, wear what feels good to you, Doh said.

"Come as you are without any preconceived notions of Heinz Hall or the Pittsburgh Symphony," Doh said. "Wear whatever you want, because everyone's welcome in Heinz Hall.

"I hope and I know this will be a landmark event for us to show Pittsburgh and the world that classical music and orchestral music is for everybody," Doh said. "I've done some research and I think Pittsburgh is the only orchestra that is celebrating the 50th year of hip hop with an artist whose album will be released a week before the actual performance. I'm sure there are some doubters in the classical world thinking, 'Wait, you can't do that.' I know this will be that moment where, 'Hey, you know what? We've opened the doors of Heinz Hall so everyone can come.'"

Frzy will remain busy after the concert, hustling to promote the Nov. 1 release of his "Success" album plus the simultaneous release of another album, "Popularity."

He says, "The 'Popularity' album is very much what you'd expect from rap. Bottles, girls, cars all, that sort of stuff. And 'Success' is where I am now in my career where it's lavish with strings, arrangements, choirs, all that good stuff."

A regional Emmy Award winner, for his collaboration with WQED-TV on his hip-hop version of Mr. Rogers' “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” Frzy witnessed The City of Pittsburgh officially declaring Jan. 11, 2018, as “Frzy Day.’ In 2020, he made national headlines, becoming the Guinness World Record holder for longest freestyle rap at 31 hours. In 2021, Eat'n Park designed a Frzy smiley cookie; a year later a mural of his likeness was unveiled in Braddock.

Collaborating with the symphony takes things up a notch.

"I'm so humbled in this space," Frzy said, "and so excited for you to hear this. What's happening right now is crazy."

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Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@timesonline.com

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Pittsburgh Symphony & Frzy collaborate on first-of-its-kind concert