Jon Batiste coming to Columbus to participate in a musical residency with ProMusica
You have heard him on his celebrated albums “We Are” and “World Music Radio.”
You have seen him in his capacity as bandleader on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”You have watched as he has picked up Grammys, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe — and you might just have seen him during the Oscar broadcast a week-and-a-half ago, when he performed his nominated song “It Never Went Away” from his documentary “American Symphony.”
Columbus residents, though, are about to hear — and see — much more of Jon Batiste.
The ProMusica Chamber Orchestra announced Wednesday that Batiste will participate in a musical residency with the orchestra in early May.
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“Jon is a brilliant artist, and I think he is one of the few artists who really crosses over in all kinds of genres,” said ProMusica Music Director David Danzmayr. “He’s become a real superstar.”
What to expect from the Jon Batiste residency
The residency will include two concerts in as many days, each with entirely distinct repertoire.
On May 2, Batiste will bring along his jazz trio to perform with the orchestra; then, on May 3, the singer-songwriter-composer-pianist will present, and play the piano part in, his own world-premiere composition commissioned and to be performed by ProMusica. Both concerts will take place in the Southern Theatre, 21 E. Main St.
Tickets will go on sale to subscribers on March 25 and to the general public on March 27.
Batiste has performed with ProMusica before
The residency represents a renewal of a collaboration that began some years ago. In February 2019, Batiste was the guest artist during ProMusica’s annual soiree fundraiser concert.
“He was here at the Southern with the orchestra,” said CEO Janet Chen. “To this day, there are still people who remember that show with great fondness and amazement.”Danzmayr, who led that soiree concert five years ago, felt the same way.
“Whatever I did, he found his way around,” Danzmayr said. “He makes things up on the fly. He improvises around. He’s a true musician — an incredible guy.”
Added Chen: “It just felt like there was such a great synergy together performing with him.”
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As it turns out, that synergy was felt on both sides: Batiste expressed an interest in returning one day to perform with ProMusica, and orchestra officials stayed in touch with the artist’s representatives.
Then, last fall, Batiste’s manager contacted Chen about his client coming back to Columbus.
“Jon is amazing, but how wonderful it is that he remembered us — he remembered ProMusica, he remembered the Southern Theatre, he remembered the experience,” Chen said. “As his incredibleness is taking him to all different corners of the artistic realm, he wants to do something with an orchestra, and his manager reached out to us.”
About Batiste's world-premiere work
The specifics of Batiste’s world-premiere piece are still in the works, but the piece is likely to include elements of improvisation.
“As it stands at the moment, the concept is that the orchestra part will be set,” Danzmayr said. “The orchestra will know what they’re playing, but Jon, like (jazz pianist improviser) Keith Jarrett, will play the solo part. . . . He will improvise big parts of the solo part.”
The orchestra is also working to commission a work by another composer that will offer orchestral variations on Batiste’s music.
“We will commission a composer to take a theme or some themes of Jon Batiste’s and write an orchestra piece,” Danzmayr said.
With a star as big as Batiste, Chen expects the concerts to draw broader audiences than usual for ProMusica concerts.
“Because of just who he is as an artist and musician, he speaks to so many different walks of life,” Chen said. “You could be a classically trained musician, you could be the young person in the audience who listens to his most recent ‘World Music Radio’ recording — he just speaks to all generations. . . . Hopefully we will get some new fans and friends.”
For more information, visit www.promusicacolumbus.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jon Batiste to perform in Columbus with ProMusica
