The National Symphony Orchestra is at a crossroads. Can it survive?
When the John F.Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
closed its doors on Sept.15, it left an important American orchestra all but homeless.The closure followed months of sinking ticket sales, boycotts and a legal battle in federal court over the addition of President Trump's name to the Kennedy Center's façade.
Trump took control of the center in early 2025, after firing members of the organization's board of trustees and Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter.The 95-year-old National Symphony Orchestra has been performing in the Kennedy Center since it opened in 1971.Now, the musicians and their charismatic music director Gianandrea Noseda are musical nomads while the future of the arts complex, with its proposed renovations, remains uncertain.
The new reality came as a shock to Noseda, the Italian conductor who has led the NSO for nine years."It was absolutely unexpected," Noseda admits."The news of the closing of the Kennedy Center came like a cold shower.
And my first reaction was, 'What will we do now if we don't have our home?'"The NSO scrambled to find six alternative concert venues around the greater Washington, D.C.region, all the while hoping that at least part of its budget would remain intact while the string of Kennedy Center controversies continues to play out.
It's a recipe ripe for disaster."The Kennedy Center is such a mess," says Anne Midgette, former classical music critic for The Washington Post."I was very concerned that there might not be an NSO season.
I was concerned there might not be an NSO — because the NSO is so bound up with the Kennedy Center."Most symphony orchestras announce their upcoming seasons in early spring.But because the NSO had to wait for budget approval from the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, the new season was revealed in mid-August.
That was a short six weeks before the NSO's opening concert, which took place only 11 days after the Kennedy Center locked its doors.On Sept.26, Noseda and...