News: Washington National Opera sever ties with the Trump/Kennedy Center
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is the latest company move out of the Trump-Kennedy Center. The decision was announced on Friday (Jan 9), after it was approved from the center. The move was not a surprise to anyone keeping score, since it was telegraphed in November 2025.
If you need to catch up, here is a quick summary: President Donald Trump replaced the board members of The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts with his supporters and appointed himself as chairman on February 12, 2025.
While there were some artists who cancelled their shows after February 12… it wasn’t until the official name change to Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on December 18, 2025, that a new wave of cancellations started pouring in.
So why are so many musicians and artists cancelling their shows at the Trump Center? Think of it this way, if the center was re-named the Adolf Hitler Memorial Center for the Performing Arts… would you want to play there too? You can’t blame the musicians; they have the freedom to decide where they play and who they honor.
Details about the Washington National Opera move out of the Trump/Kennedy Center, can be found on New York Times:
The opera company is seeking to sever its ties with the Kennedy Center after a tumultuous year in which both groups have faced cancellations by artists, empty seats and the retrenchment of donors protesting Mr. Trump’s intervention. Within weeks of beginning his second term, the president named himself chairman of the center and installed a political ally, Richard Grenell, as its executive director, while filling its board with supporters.
A resolution to leave was approved by the opera’s board of trustees on Friday. The opera said in a statement that it would “seek an amicable early termination of its affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center and resume operations as a fully independent nonprofit entity.”
Of course, the Trump center is spinning this as a positive for the center, with Roma Daravi writing:
The relationship with the WNO has presented ongoing financial challenges for well over a decade—through political appointee Board members from both sides of the aisle—the financial problems long predate the current leadership. When financial commitments are not met year over year, we have to make tough decisions for the financial health of the Trump Kennedy Center…. Given the longstanding financial strain, it has become necessary for us to part ways to protect the best interests of the Center.
Here is a list of every cancelled show at the Trump-Kennedy Center
- 02/07 Karine Jean-Pierre was fired by Trump
- 02/07 Award-winning musician Jon Batiste was fired by Trump
- 02/07 Billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein was fired by Trump
- 02/12 Donal J Trump appoints himself as chairman
- 02/12 Ben Folds resigned as Artistic Advisor
- 02/12 Renée Fleming resigned as Artistic Advisor
- 02/12 Shonda Rhimes resigned as treasurer
- 02/12 Finn Musical (Canceled)
- 02/13 R&B Love Songs Edition (Canceled by producer)
- 02/27 Balun (Canceled)
- 03/12 Stephen Key, along with dozen or more gay and lesbian musicians, have resigned
- 03/15 Blacks in Wax (Canceled)
- 03/16 An Evening With Issa Rae (Canceled)
- 03/17 Harvey Fierstein banned by Trump
- 03/19 Low Cut Connie (Canceled)
- 03/21 Peter Wolf Book Event (Canceled)
- 03/22 Skipper the Seal Book Event (Canceled)
- 03/26 Arts & Wellbeing Panel (Canceled)
- 04/05 Amanda Rheaume (Canceled)
- 04/18 Bard and the Beat II (Canceled)
- 04/19 Saigon by Night (Canceled by Trump)
- 04/20 Bring them Home – Film (Canceled)
- 04/26 National Youth Poet Laureate Commemoration (Canceled)
- 05/04 U.S. Marine Band (Canceled by Trump’s anti-DEI orders)
- 05/11 Rhiannon Giddens (Canceled)
- 12/24 Chuck Redd’s annual Christmas Jazz Jams (Canceled)
- 12/31 A Jazz New Year’s Eve: The Cookers Early (Canceled)
- 12/31 A Jazz New Year’s Eve: The Cookers Late (Canceled)
— 2026 —
- 01/14 Kristy Lee (Canceled)
- 01/19 Let Freedom Ring with Leslie Odom, Jr. (relocated to Howard Theatre)
- 01/22 Wayne Tucker and The Bad Mothas (Canceled)
- 01/24 Washington National Opera: American Opera Initiative (Canceled)
- 01/28 Kevin Couch senior vice-president of artistic programming resigns
- 02/01 Brentano Quartet with Hsin-Yun Huang (Canceled)
- 02/07 Sonia De Los Santos – School Performance and Creative Conversation (Canceled)
- 02/08 Vocal Arts DC Presents Bernheim & Matheson (Canceled)
- 02/19-02/22 Béla Fleck (Canceled)
- 02/28 Magpie (Canceled)
- 03/01 Vocal Arts DC Presents Kelsey & Ketter (Canceled)
- 03/03-04-26 Hamilton Musical (Canceled)
- 03/19-03/29 Washington National Opera: The Crucible (Canceled)
- 03/22 Fishing for Stars (Canceled)
- 04/04 Martha Graham Dance Company (Canceled)
- 04/11-04/12 Young Dragon: A Bruce Lee Story (Canceled)
- 04/18-04/19 Young Dragon: A Bruce Lee Story (Canceled)
- 04/24-04/25 Doug Varone and Dancers (Canceled)
- 05/08-05/23 Washington National Opera: West Side Story (Canceled)
- 05/10 Vocal Arts DC Presents Bu & Pak (Canceled)
- 05/12-05/22 Washington National Opera: Treemonisha (Canceled)
- 05/16 Stephen Schwartz resigns from Washington National Opera Gala
- 05/16 Washington National Opera: Washington National Opera Gala (Canceled)
- 05/21 Gay Men’s Chorus (Canceled by Trump)
- 05/29-05/30 Asian AF (Canceled)
- 05/29-05/30 Renée Fleming withdrawl from Gaffigan conducts Appalachian Spring (canceled)
- 06/12-06/13 Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln” (Canceled)
- 07/04/2026-07/04/2028 All scheduled shows in this time period be cancelled due to “renovations”
Update 02/03/2026: Donald Trump announced on Feb 1st, that the Kennedy Center will be closed on July 4, 2026, for the next two years for “renovations”. Therefor, any scheduled shows on and after July 4, is, in effect, cancelled.
1 thought on “News: Washington National Opera sever ties with the Trump/Kennedy Center”