Press Release: Saratoga Performing Arts Center Announces Jon Batiste to Join The Philadelphia Orchestra Season on August 22
July 24, 2025
Saratoga Performing Arts Center Announces
Jon Batiste
to join The Philadelphia Orchestra Season on August 22
Exclusive performance to celebrate the release of his new album BIG MONEY,
ahead of upcoming national tour
The announcement follows the cancellation of
An Evening with Cynthia Erivo
Due to scheduling conflicts beyond the artist’s control
Saratoga Springs, NY (July 24, 2025) – Saratoga Performing Arts Center announces that seven-time GRAMMY® Award-winning artist Jon Batiste will join the summer line-up for his Philadelphia Orchestra debut on August 22. His appearance coincides with the highly anticipated release of his new album BIG MONEY, marking the first time that audiences will be able to experience his new music live ahead of his national tour. The announcement follows the news that Cynthia Erivo has unfortunately had to cancel her previously scheduled engagement due to scheduling conflicts beyond the artist’s control.
“Jon Batiste is one of the most brilliant and accomplished musicians of our time — a once-in-a-generation artist who will bring his creativity, magnetism and social activism to Saratoga. His return to SPAC carries a special kind of magic — a homecoming for an artist whose roots run deep in our city. From his formative days at the Skidmore Jazz Institute to his electrifying performances at our Saratoga Jazz Festival, our community has had the rare privilege of witnessing his extraordinary rise from emerging talent to global icon,” says Elizabeth Sobol, Chief Executive Officer of Saratoga Performing Arts Center. “While we are disappointed that Cynthia Erivo will not be joining us this summer, we are elated to welcome Jon in celebration of his highly anticipated new album. It’s a truly special moment: our audiences will be the very first to witness his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra and to experience his latest work just before he launches a major national tour.”
Jon Batiste’s performance on August 22 will feature works from his upcoming album BIG MONEY, slated for release on the same day, alongside his band. The second half of this exclusive performance will mark his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra. This appearance will be his first time back at SPAC, following his Saratoga Jazz Festival performance in 2018.
On BIG MONEY, Batiste melds classic and modern styles of R&B, Americana, soul, roots, jazz, gospel and more to create sounds of jubilee and diasporic expression. It is the soundtrack of a movement, featuring collaborators from Randy Newman to frequent Jay-Z collaborator No ID. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said: “We have such a profoundly rich cultural inheritance in America that many of us don’t know of, don’t fully embrace, don’t fully understand. And artists just have to keep making statements that point back to that and counter things that are trying to dilute that or erase it.”
Jon Batiste is a seven-time GRAMMY Award-winner and Academy Award-winning singer, songwriter and composer. In 2024, Batiste released his eighth studio album, Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1), marking the first installment in his new solo piano series and showcasing Batiste’s interpolations of some of Beethoven’s most iconic works, reimagined through an expansive lens. Batiste was also the subject of Matthew Heineman’s moving 2023 documentary AMERICAN SYMPHONY, released on Netflix in partnership with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground. Batiste and GRAMMY winner Dan Wilson penned the emotional song “It Never Went Away” for the film, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song and two GRAMMY nominations. In 2021, Batiste released We Are, which was nominated for 11 GRAMMY Awards across seven different categories, a first in GRAMMY history. He went on to win five GRAMMY Awards that evening, including Album of the Year. In 2018, he received a GRAMMY nomination for Best American Roots, and in 2020, he received two GRAMMY nods for the albums: CHRONOLOGY OF A DREAM: LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD and MEDITATIONS (with Cory Wong). In 2020, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the Disney/Pixar film SOUL, an honor he shared with fellow composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Jon’s work on SOUL also earned him a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a NAACP Image Award and a Critic’s Choice Award. He is the second black composer in history, after legendary jazz musician Herbie Hancock, to win an Academy Award for composition. From 2015 until 2022, Batiste served as the bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS.
Tickets to An Evening with Cynthia Erivo will automatically be transferred to A Special Evening with Jon Batiste and The Philadelphia Orchestra on August 22. For existing ticketholders who prefer a refund or a credit to redeem at a later date, a request form will be emailed directly to be completed by August 1. Questions can be directed to the box office at boxoffice@spac.org.
Limited tickets are available for A Special Evening with Jon Batiste and The Philadelphia Orchestra and are now available for purchase at spac.org, at the box office or by calling 518-584-9330.
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Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), located in the historic resort town of Saratoga Springs in upstate New York, is one of America’s most prestigious outdoor amphitheaters. Its tranquil setting in a 2,400-acre park preserve surrounded by hiking trails, geysers, and natural mineral springs draws lovers of arts, culture and nature for performances by resident companies New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Saratoga Jazz Festival, and concerts by Live Nation. SPAC also hosts imaginative programming such as Caffè Lena @ SPAC and initiatives in culinary, literary, healing and visual arts.
SPAC is a 501c3 charitable organization. Donations and proceeds from fundraising events benefit the Center’s thriving education program, community outreach efforts, and the vibrancy of its programming. For more information visit spac.org.
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Founded in 1900, the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra strives to share the transformative power of music with the widest possible audience, and to create joy, connection, and excitement through music in the Philadelphia region, across the country, and around the world. Through innovative programming, robust education initiatives, a commitment to its diverse communities, and the embrace of digital outreach, the ensemble is creating an expansive and inclusive future for classical music and furthering the place of the arts in an open and democratic society. The Philadelphia Orchestra originally performed at the Academy of Music, a National Historic Landmark, and in 2001 moved its performances to its permanent home at the Kimmel Center’s state-of-the-art Verizon Hall, which in 2024 was renamed Marian Anderson Hall, in honor of the legendary contralto, civil rights icon, and Philadelphian. The Philadelphia Orchestra also performs annually at Carnegie Hall and during summer residencies at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia; the Bravo! Vail Festival in Vail, Colorado; and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, New York. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s music and artistic director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin. For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org.