Around the Music Festival

The Trump Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., announced that it would be severing its relationship with the National Opera, which had been based at the center. The center explained that the exclusive contract it had previously held had “incurred enormous costs and limited our options and diversity. The decision was made to ensure the flexibility and funding necessary to invite operas from around the world and across the United States.”

In their statement, they pointed out that “opera companies typically cover only 30-60% of their costs from ticket sales, with the rest coming from grants and donations,” and questioned the commercial approach of covering the costs of producing experimental works with popular productions like “West Side Story,” saying, “profits from large-scale productions are subsidizing smaller, more innovative works.”

The National Opera, known as the “President’s Opera House,” is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Director Francesca Zambello has served as artistic director for 14 seasons, and Robert Spano has just been appointed music director from the 2025/2026 season. The Opera will lose its home base and be forced to operate independently, but it has already launched an independent website and begun negotiations with other venues.

The Kennedy Center opened in 1971 on the banks of the Potomac River as a facility commemorating the 35th President, John F. Kennedy (1917-1963). It has become known as a temple of the arts, hosting over 2,000 music and theater performances annually and attracting approximately 2 million visitors.

It underwent a major renovation in 1997 and now houses the Concert Hall (capacity 2,442), home to the National Symphony Orchestra, the Opera House (capacity 2,300), the Eisenhower Theater (capacity 1,100), the Family Theater (capacity 324), and the Terrace Theater (capacity 513).

Soon after President Trump took office in his second term, he replaced the chairperson of the board and filled the leadership with Republican aides. This has led to some Democratic artists, including Renée Fleming, artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra, resigning in protest, and the Center has become a site of clashes between Republican and Democratic forces.

The president himself became chairman of the board in February. At the end of last year, the board of directors voted to change the name of the Kennedy Center to the Trump Kennedy Center, and the name was quickly changed. This move sparked widespread backlash, with some artists canceling performances.

PHOTO；whitehouse.gov


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