Samara Joy to Headline Boston Pops New Year's Eve Celebration
The jazz vocalist returns to perform with the orchestra at Symphony Hall after her appearance at the 2025 Company Celebration.
Six-time Grammy Award-winner Samara Joy, a rising star in jazz, is the special guest vocalist for a New Year's Eve celebration with the Boston Pops on Thursday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m., headlining a program to close out 2026 that leaves time for attendees to make midnight plans.
Joy returns a year after teaming with the orchestra for the 2025 Company Celebration at Pops, bringing rich vocals and jazz sensibility to Symphony Hall.
About Samara Joy
A descendant of a musical family with ties to the Philadelphia gospel scene, Joy garnered national attention by winning the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition while still a student at SUNY Purchase — an achievement followed by three acclaimed studio albums and an extended play. Known for her smooth, evocative vocals, she was named “Best New Artist” at the 2023 Grammy Awards and received her first NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Jazz Album” in 2025, recognizing “Portrait.”
Joy is celebrated for her interpretations of jazz standards, with new takes on tunes like Ronnell Bright's “Sweet Pumpkin” and Nacio Herb Brown and Gus Kahn's “You Stepped Out of a Dream” complemented by lyrical imaginings for Charles Mingus instrumentals with 2024's “Reincarnation of a Lovebird.” She also released the Grammy-winning EP “A Joyful Holiday” in 2023, featuring modern takes on holiday classics, and recorded the song “Why I'm Here” for Netflix's 2024 Shirley Chisholm biopic, “Shirley,” starring Regina King.
Joy is set to release her forthcoming live album, “Samara Joy: Live at the Blue Note L.A.,” on Verve Records Oct. 23, capturing the rising star and her septet during a sold-out run at the renowned jazz club in April 2026.
Tickets for the New Year's Eve celebration featuring Samara Joy go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, available for purchase online at bso.org or by phone at 888-266-1200. Group tickets may be purchased by contacting https://bso.org/ or 617-638-9345.
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