This summer, multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste hosts his tour, Jon Batiste Live: A Fantastical Musical Journey, across North America. He’ll be stopping at Forest Hills Stadium on August 15th for an exclusive performance of his festival show, Songs for Hope and Change, with special guests Cautious Clay, Ingrid Silva, Matteo Bocelli, and Nick Waterhouse.

Raised in Kenner, Louisiana and descended from the New Orleans musical dynasty consisting of Lionel Batiste (Treme Brass Band), Milton Batiste (Olympia Brass Band), and Russel Batiste Jr., Jon Batiste began his musical career playing drums in his family’s Batiste Brothers Band before switching to piano when he was 11. He continued his dedicated music education transcribing songs from video games and went on to receive his Bachelors and Masters of Music from Julliard. Beginning during his time in college, he performed impromptu street performances or “love riots,” alongside bassist Phil Kuehn and drummer Joe Saylor as the jazz band, Stay Human. They released their debut album, My N.Y. (recorded entirely on the NYC subway) in 2011 and went on to serve as the house band for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022. Batiste has also collaborated with an impressive array of music stars including Wynton Marseilles, Gary Clark Jr., Lana del Rey, NewJeans, Lil Wayne, Prince, and many more. 

Starting in 2005 Batiste released a series of jazz records (featuring him on the piano) that consist of standards, covers, and original compositions beginning with Times in New Orleans and concluding with Jazz Selections: Music From and Inspired By Soul in 2021. Batiste (alongside Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) composed music for the 2020 Academy Award winning Pixar film, Soul, winning both Oscar and Golden Globe awards for Best Original Score. Pivoting to R&B and soul, he won four Grammys including Album of the Year for his 2021 album, WE ARE, a genre-blending collection of autobiographical sketches exploring his life and lineage, and won a Grammy for Best Americana Album for 2025’s BIG MONEY. Some of Batiste’s other numerous career highlights include the premier of his orchestral composition, American Symphony, at Carnegie Hall, winning a Grammy for the film of the same name (produced by the Obamas), borrowing Rick Rubin’s legendary Shangri-La to record his 2023 concept album, World Music Radio, composing the score for and acting in Saturday Night, and serving as music director for The Atlantic and creative director for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. 

Batiste returned to his piano roots in 2024 with Beethoven Blues, the first volume in his Batiste Piano Series, which features him at a piano reimagining the works of classical composers through the incorporation of jazz and blues improvisation (as well as creating some compositions of his own). With a virtuosity compared to Keith Jarret, the series showcases Batiste’s immense musical vocabulary and extremely firm grasp of the histories of the classical and jazz traditions. Batiste explains of the project, “that’s the beauty of being an artist in the 21st century. You have such a rich tradition, and such a cultural inheritance to play with. If you have the imagination to hear it, and the technical facility to pull it off, then you can make things a reality that never existed before.” He is set to release the following three volumes in the series, Black Mozart, Monk Meditations, and Monk Movements, on August 14th. The following day, he will be bringing his Fantastical Musical Journey Tour to NYC which he explains is  “meant to be healing, liberating, and unforgettable. At the heart of what I’m about is representing the cultural music I come from and taking responsibility to push it forward… That’s jazz. That’s blues. That’s soul. That’s country and gospel music… I can’t wait to channel that energy live every night, it’s where the music hits its truest form.”

Don’t miss a night of Songs of Hope and Change from Jon Batiste and special guests on August 15th at Forest Hills Stadium. Tickets are available at Axs.com. 

Location: Forest Hills

Address: 1 Tennis Pl, Forest Hills, NY 11375

Show Time:  6:30 p.m.

Doors Open: 5:30 p.m. 

Ticket Price: $55-$614

Ages: All ages