By Jennifer Burklow, October 8, 2010, The Chicago Sun-Times

The dynamic duo that created “DJ Beethoven” last year for the Harris Theater — New Millennium Orchestra conductor Francesco Milioto and Steve Abrams, the Harris executive vice president and general manager — teams up again for “Hip Hopera,” this year’s Family Series opener at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“DJ Beethoven” played with the idea that today’s DJs and electronic music artists are not that much different from yesterday’s great classical composers — that perhaps Beethoven himself was the first DJ.

“Hip Hopera” takes the fusion of electric music with classical music a step further — merging it with opera through a rapper, a drummer, a DJ, four opera singers and 12 members of the NMO, with Milioto narrating and conducting.

“We have some big surprises, but we’re very happy that a very well-known hip-hop artist who’s based here in Chicago — his name is Diverse — will be rapping over a piece of classic opera,” Abrams said. “In addition, there will be some other DJ infusion, and there’ll be classic opera with a very contemporary twist.”

Making “Hip Hopera” flow was the biggest challenge, Milioto said. He wanted to create a piece that was fun and edgy, yet gave the audience — especially the kids — a real sense of opera. He did it by breaking the piece into sections. It starts with an overture that includes the drummer and DJ. Then Milioto introduces the voices of the opera: the soprano, the mezzo, the tenor and the baritone.

The piece then segues into a scene from a famous opera so the audience realizes that every opera has “a story and the characters interact,” he said. “They’re not just standing there singing by themselves.” Audiences can expect to participate in this section, Milioto added.

The finale, he said, heavily incorporates the drummer and DJ.

“There’s a lot of funny spots in there,” Milioto said. “And I think the most important thing … is that it’s educational and edgy and funny and a great introduction for your child — great fun and hopefully a memorable operatic experience for a child [that creates an appreciation of the form].”

“Hip Hopera” will be followed by the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18; “Green Eggs and Hamadeaus” at 2 p.m. March 27, 2011, and the Grant Family Tappers in “Once Upon a Tap” at 2 p.m. next May 15.

“This is really family programming,” Abrams said of the series. “What we’re trying to do is have a performance that family members from grandparents and parents to teenagers to high school students, college students and youngsters can all come and enjoy.”