Grammy Award-winning musician Jon Batiste addressed graduates of the Savannah College of Art and Design at the school’s commencement ceremony on May 30.
Speaking before a record class of some 4,000 at the Savannah Convention Center, Batiste urged graduates to, as he put it, make peace with the unexpected. The jazz artist recounted the 2022 premiere of his American Symphony at New York’s Carnegie Hall when the lights went out, prompting him to improvise a piano solo.
“Until the power came back on, and then we went into the first movement without a hitch. This is something that happens all the time in our lives as we walk around. We don’t know who we’re going to meet, we don’t know what’s around the corner, we don’t even know what we’re always capable of,” Batiste told the graduates.
During the ceremony, Batiste was awarded an honorary doctorate by SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace.
