FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Nick Dobreff, Communications and Creative Director
616.485.3913 (m) – 303.308.2477 (o)
ndobreff@coloradosymphony.org
JON BATISTE TO HEADLINE SYMPHONY IN THE CITY GALA BENEFIT CONCERT
Tickets for the May 9 concert are available for standalone purchase; Gala tickets also available.
Feb. 9, 2026 – Denver, CO – The Colorado Symphony is proud to announce An Evening with Jon Batiste and the Colorado Symphony, taking place Saturday, May 9, 2026, at Boettcher Concert Hall. The special benefit concert, led by Resident Conductor Christopher Dragon, serves as the centerpiece of the Symphony’s largest annual fundraising event: the 2026 Symphony in the City Gala.
Concert tickets will be available as a standalone purchase, with $25 from each ticket directly supporting the Colorado Symphony’s Gala fundraising efforts. Sponsorship opportunities for the Symphony in the City Gala are available at coloradosymphony.org, with individual Gala tickets also available for purchase. Each gala ticket comes with a ticket to An Evening with Jon Batiste and the Colorado Symphony.
Jon Batiste is among the most celebrated and influential musicians of his generation, a genre-defying artist whose work seamlessly bridges jazz, classical, pop, R&B, and soul. A multi-GRAMMY® Award winner, Academy Award® winner, and former bandleader of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Batiste brings his signature artistry, charisma, and musical vision to Denver for a one-night-only collaboration with the Colorado Symphony.
While An Evening with Jon Batiste and the Colorado Symphony is part of the Symphony in the City Gala celebration, the concert itself is open to the public, offering audiences the opportunity to enjoy world-class music while directly supporting one of Denver’s leading cultural institutions and its extensive education and community engagement programs.
EVENT INFORMATION:
What: An Evening with Jon Batiste and the Colorado Symphony
When: May 9, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Where: Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver, CO
Tickets:
Gala tickets, including concert admission, will be available for those wishing to attend the Symphony in the City Gala. Visit coloradosymphony.org for more information.
Donation: A $25 donation to the Colorado Symphony is included with each concert ticket purchase.
Tickets are expected to sell quickly for this one-night-only event. Attendees can look forward to an unforgettable evening of music while helping sustain the Colorado Symphony’s artistic excellence and educational outreach across the region.
Tickets for these performances will go on sale February 13 at 10am at coloradosymphony.org. For more information on the Colorado Symphony, please visit coloradosymphony.org.
ABOUT JON BATISTE:
Jon Batiste is a eight-time Grammy, Academy, and Emmy Award–winning singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist, renowned for his genre-defying approach to music and his commitment to inclusivity and cultural exploration.
Batiste’s latest studio album, BIG MONEY, is a project rooted in American traditions spanning gospel, soul, blues, folk, and rock & roll. Featuring collaborations with No I.D., Randy Newman, and Andra Day, the album earned three nominations at the 2026 Grammy Awards and won Best Americana Album. Batiste supported the project with a national headlining tour that visited over 30 venues across the country, consistently selling out.
BIG MONEY followed 2024’s Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1). Marking the first installment in his new solo piano series, the project showcases his interpolations of some of Beethoven’s most iconic works, reimagined through an expansive lens. The album topped Billboard’s Classical Albums chart for nine weeks and delivered Batiste’s biggest sales week to date.
In 2023, he released World Music Radio, a globetrotting album of originals inspired by his mission to create community and expand culture through the power of music. Featuring collaborators including Jon Bellion, Lana Del Rey, and Lil Wayne, the project received five Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year.
That same year, he was the subject of Matthew Heineman’s moving Netflix documentary American Symphony, released in partnership with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground. The film chronicles Batiste’s professional triumphs in 2022 — marked by nine Grammy nominations and five wins for his 2021 album We Are — while he simultaneously confronts his wife’s cancer recurrence. He also co-wrote the film’s original song “It Never Went Away,” which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
In 2020, he received two Grammy nominations for the albums Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard and Meditations (with Cory Wong).
Batiste’s work also extends to film composition, most recently contributing the score for Jason Reitman’s 2024 film Saturday Night, which depicts the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live in 1975. He also composed and performed music for the Disney/Pixar film Soul, earning an Academy Award for Best Original Score alongside fellow composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Soul also earned Batiste a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, an NAACP Image Award, and a Critics’ Choice Award.
From 2015 to 2022, Batiste served as bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS.
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CONTACT:
For more information or to request interviews, please contact:
Nick Dobreff, Communications and Creative Director
ndobreff@coloradosymphony.org – 303.308.2477 (o)
For high-resolution, downloadable images of the Colorado Symphony, contact: ndobreff@coloradosymphony.org
Support for the 2025/26 Colorado Symphony Season is provided by: The Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), Genesee Mountain Foundation, Denver Arts & Venues, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Schoen Foundation, and the Colorado Symphony Guild.
TICKETS:
Tickets to Colorado Symphony events are available online at coloradosymphony.org/tickets, by phone at 303.623.7876, and in person at the Boettcher Concert Hall Box Office, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1000 14th Street. The Box Office is open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday, noon – 5 p.m., and two hours prior to each performance.
ABOUT THE COLORADO SYMPHONY
One of the leading orchestras in the United States, the Colorado Symphony Association is a not-forprofit 501(c)(3) organization performing more than 150 concerts annually at Boettcher Concert Hall in downtown Denver and across Colorado. Led by Peter Oundjian as its Music Director as of the 2025/26 season, the Colorado Symphony is home to eighty full-time musicians representing more than a dozen nations and regularly welcomes the world’s most celebrated artists from across musical genres. The orchestra celebrated its Centennial during the 2023/24 concert season and now serves more than 340,000 people each year through live performances at Boettcher Concert Hall, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, and other venues throughout Colorado’s Front Range. Boettcher Concert Hall, which opened in 1978, was the first in-the-round symphonic venue built in the United States. In November 2025, voters passed the Vibrant Denver Bond, which allocates $20 million to a future renovation of the concert hall. Guided by a vision to inspire and unite humanity through live symphonic music, the Colorado Symphony is a living heartbeat of the state — expressing its beauty, creativity, vitality, and inclusive spirit. Through unmatched artistry and bold innovation, the Symphony inspires Colorado and audiences everywhere while expanding access, fostering education, and creating lasting memories through meaningful personal connections. Recognized as an incubator of innovation, creativity, and excellence, the Colorado Symphony listens to and learns from its diverse communities, musicians, and staff; composes and creates with curiosity and versatility; and leads with empathy, collaboration, and responsible stewardship. The Symphony continually expands its reach through in-person and virtual education programs, community partnerships, and programming that celebrates achievement, honors diverse voices, and infuses joy on and off the stage. The Colorado Symphony partners with leading musical artists, cultural organizations, corporations, foundations, educators, sports teams, and individuals to connect people, uplift communities, and inspire everyone to feel part of something greater.