Press Videos, Clippings & Screen Shots
Charlotte NPR - WFAE
August 6, 2025 - Elvis Menayese
“Phoenix - There is no shortage of negativity in this time in history. People need the things that continue to give them happiness, hope, light, even if it’s for two hours in a dark theater. That you can walk out feeling uplifted in some sort of way. That’s really what we strive for. If you see yourself reflected or represented, and that gives you that hope, that’s what we want. Even if it’s the one person who gets touched by that. We’ve done what we set out to do.”
Hartford Courant
November 16, 2025 - Christopher Arnott
Most of The Illharmonic’s songs have vocals. Both Phoenix and Thee Phantom perform: He raps while she both raps and sings. There’s also a DJ in the center of the orchestra and MCs at the front of the stage. The 20 to 25 musicians onstage are drawn from a wide pool of freelance musicians, some of whom have played with Illharmonic for years.”
Bay State Banner
September 24, 2025 - Scott Haas
“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.”
Dallas Observer
February 12, 2024 - Samantha Thornfelt
“At the end of a Kennedy Center performance in 2017, a woman and her young son approached the couple. The woman said her son was a cello player and told the McNeills how important and impactful it was for him to see himself represented on stage. “When we talked to him, we said to him, ‘Continue to push forward and practice and in another few years, you might be playing onstage with us,’” Andrea says. “Fast forward a few years, this young man is 15, the third chair in his school orchestra, and playing with us. [...] He's done like four total shows with us. Those kinds of moments are the ones that are the most meaningful.”
Kecia’s Tour Life
April 7, 2024 - Kecia’s Tour Life
“Picture this: a hip-hop concert infused with the grandeur of an orchestra comprising strings, horns, piano, and a skillful DJ, all complemented by the dynamic duo of a husband-wife MC team, radiating passion and love for their craft. Now that you have that visual, know that the performance was a fusion of classic hip-hop and R&B hits, each with the unique twist and flavor that only Thee Phantom and the Illharmonic Orchestra can deliver.”
Austin Chronicle
August 11, 2023 - Genevieve Wood
“Some may doubt the viability of combining hip-hop and classical music, but Thee Phantom, maestro of the genre-blending Illharmonic Orchestra, is used to these suspicions. In 1987, a 13-year-old Phantom mixed Beastie Boys' bratty classic "Paul Revere" with Beethoven's melodic Symphony No. 5 and brought the tape to his best friend's house for review. "He ejected it, threw it across the room, and said it would never work," laughs Phantom. "From that moment, I became galvanized to the idea that I would mix hip-hop and classical music and do it on a major level.”
District Fray Magazine
June 1, 2022 - Caroline Cliona Boyle
The classical music industry is long known as lacking inclusivity of ethnic minorities. Thee Phantom’s pairing with The Illharmonic draws attention to the need for equity within orchestral classical music.
Coln emphasizes the importance of representation within the industry and its promising effect on aspiring musicians of minority backgrounds.
“If there’s a person who can come to our show and say ‘I see this differently, I know I can aspire to this,’ then we’ve done our jobs,” Coln says.
