American Symphony (2023) is a biographical documentary written, shot, and directed by Matthew Heineman that follows a year in the life of musician Jon Batiste. It premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and was released on Netflix on November 29, 2023. The film has since gone on to earn a Grammy Award and an Oscar nomination for its original song — both detailed below.
Quick Facts
| Title | American Symphony |
| Type | Documentary Film |
| Director | Matthew Heineman |
| Subject / Composer-Performer | Jon Batiste |
| Premiere | Telluride Film Festival, August 31, 2023 |
| Netflix Release | November 29, 2023 |
| Genre | Documentary, Music, Biography |
| Key Song | “It Never Went Away” (Jon Batiste & Dan Wilson) |
| Where to Watch | Netflix |
The documentary opens as Jon Batiste learns he has been nominated for 11 Grammy Awards while preparing a one-night-only performance at Carnegie Hall for his orchestral piece “American Symphony,” intended to modernize the classical symphonic form. At the same time, his career is reaching new heights, his partner and now-wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, learns that her leukemia — in remission for a decade — has returned. The film weaves footage of Batiste’s creative process with the couple’s private life as they face treatment together.
Who Scored American Symphony
Jon Batiste is both the film’s subject and its composer-performer, writing and performing the music heard throughout. Batiste previously won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Pixar’s Soul (2020), shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross — that was a scoring award, not, as an earlier version of this page stated, an award “for Animation Film.” American Symphony is a separate, later project and is not connected to that Soul score beyond Batiste’s own career arc.
Dan Wilson, the singer-songwriter known as the frontman of the ’90s rock band Semisonic (correcting the earlier misspelling “Semiconic”), co-wrote the film’s original song “It Never Went Away” with Batiste. Wilson has a long track record of high-profile songwriting collaborations: he won the Grammy for Song of the Year in 2007 for the Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice,” and he co-wrote Adele’s Grammy-winning “Someone Like You” from her 2011 album 21.
“It Never Went Away” went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2024 ceremony and received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 96th Academy Awards (it did not win the Oscar). Discussing the song with Variety, Batiste said it “probes the questions of our mortality while at the same time speaking to the enduring quality of our deepest callings and desires.”
Every Song on the Soundtrack
| Track | Performer |
|---|---|
| It Never Went Away | Jon Batiste |
| Butterfly | Jon Batiste |
| Wherever You Are | Jon Batiste |
| White Space | Jon Batiste |
| Carnival of the Animals: The Swan (Saint-Saëns) | Jon Batiste |
| 2 Arabesques, L. 66: No. 1 in E Major (Debussy) | Jon Batiste |
| Für Elise (Reimagined) | Jon Batiste |
| Dancing On My Own | Jon Batiste |
| Wildest Dreams | Jon Batiste |
| What About Us | Jon Batiste |
| Life Lesson | Jon Batiste |
| Goodbye, Billy Bob | Jon Batiste |
| Running Away | Jon Batiste |
| Worship | Jon Batiste |
Track list compiled from the film’s official soundtrack listing (Verve Records / Interscope, digital release). “It Never Went Away” is the only song with an outside co-writer credit (Dan Wilson); the remainder of the score and reimagined classical pieces are performed by Batiste.
Where to Stream
American Symphony streams exclusively on Netflix. The soundtrack is available on major music platforms including Spotify and Apple Music.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is American Symphony about?
It’s a 2023 documentary following a year in Jon Batiste’s life as he prepares an ambitious Carnegie Hall performance while his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, battles a recurrence of leukemia.
Did Jon Batiste win an Oscar for American Symphony?
Not for this film specifically. Batiste previously won the Best Original Score Oscar for Soul (2020), shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. American Symphony’s original song “It Never Went Away” was nominated for Best Original Song at the 96th Academy Awards but did not win.
Who is Dan Wilson and what’s his connection to American Symphony?
Dan Wilson, the former frontman of Semisonic, co-wrote “It Never Went Away” with Jon Batiste for the film. He previously won a Grammy for writing the Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice” and co-wrote Adele’s “Someone Like You.”
Did American Symphony win any awards?
“It Never Went Away” won the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
Where can I watch American Symphony?
It streams exclusively on Netflix, where it has been available since November 29, 2023.
Related Reading
More documentary and music-film coverage: our Movie Soundtrack Hub, Netflix streaming guide, and Streaming hub.