The San Diego Symphony will stage a genre-bending mashup next spring, pairing Beethoven's Eroica Symphony with the music of Coldplay in a single evening at Jacobs Music Center. The performance, titled SYMPHONYFUSE: Beethoven X Coldplay, is set for April 9, 2027, with the full orchestra joined by three vocalists under conductor and creator Steve Hackman.
According to KPBS, the event takes place at the Jacobs Music Center at 1245 Seventh Ave., with doors set for a 7:30 p.m. local start and tickets ranging from $43 to $120. The show is open to all ages, and the San Diego Symphony is listed as the presenting organization, with its box office reachable at 619.235.0804 or [email protected] for those looking to plan a night out. Hackman himself alternates between conducting the orchestra and sitting down at the piano throughout the performance, according to the venue's own event listing.
The concept behind the show is more ambitious than a simple mashup. Per sandiegosymphony.org, the program transforms Beethoven's Eroica into a song cycle or oratorio, weaving Coldplay's melodies and lyrics directly into Beethoven's original score rather than simply alternating between the two. The pairing isn't random — the same source notes the songs are matched to passages of the symphony based on context and meaning, so a given Coldplay lyric lands where the orchestral mood complements it.
Which Coldplay Songs Made the Cut
Listeners can expect several of the band's signature hits stitched into the Eroica's architecture, including “Yellow,” “Viva la Vida,” “Clocks” and “The Scientist,” the venue's listing states. Three vocalists join the full orchestra for the performance, though the April 2027 San Diego date hasn't had its specific singers announced publicly. The production poses a question at its core, as sandiegosymphony.org puts it: would Beethoven have found meaning in the music of Coldplay?
That framing fits into the broader mission Hackman has built his career around. Through his company SYMPHONYFUSE, he has developed what he calls FUSE, a concept that synthesizes classical and popular works, according to cso.org. Hackman has described the format as offering a reimagined experience of each work by seeing it through the lens of the other, the same outlet reports.
A Production With a Track Record
This isn't the first time San Diego audiences have had a chance to hear Beethoven and Coldplay collide. A concert titled Steve Hackman's Beethoven vs. Coldplay played San Diego on February 15, 2020, according to sandiegoreader.com, which described that version as transforming the Eroica into an oratorio with three vocalists and the full symphony, interpolating “Fix You,” “Paradise” and “The Scientist” rather than the exact song list planned for 2027.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra mounted its own version of the production at Orchestra Hall on October 22, 2023, according to dso.org, which featured “Yellow,” “Viva La Vida,” “Clocks” and “The Scientist” — the same four songs listed for the 2027 San Diego show. That account also noted Coldplay itself was not performing at the Detroit concert and that the show ran without an intermission.
Beyond Beethoven and Coldplay
Hackman's catalog of genre fusions extends well past this particular pairing. He has also created similar combinations merging Tchaikovsky with Drake and Mahler with rap music, according to mso.org, which also reports that Hackman obtains permission from pop artists' agents or publishers before incorporating their music into his arrangements. The same account notes that, by Hackman's own description, his fusion concerts have drawn audiences more likely than those at other nontraditional programs to go on and buy tickets to a traditional subscription concert — a detail he has used to make the case that these mashups can serve as a gateway into the orchestra's broader season.
For now, the particulars await the April 2027 date: the vocal lineup for San Diego has not been made public, and details like arrangement specifics or whether an intermission will separate the two composers' worlds remain unconfirmed. What's established is the shape of the evening itself — Beethoven's Eroica reworked as a vehicle for Coldplay's most recognizable songs, exploring, as the symphony's own description puts it, universal and humanist themes shared across two very different eras of music.
