Members of the National Symphony Orchestra warn that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ decision to add President Donald Trump’s name to the building has already damaged their orchestra’s reputation and finances.
A Kennedy Center mainstay since the mid-1980s, NSO members’ displeasure adds to a growing backlash, including a spate of event cancellations, by artists scheduled to perform there.
“Even the most far-right conservative, Trump-loving members of the orchestra who’ve loved the takeover are disgusted and terrified by the recent move of renaming the center,” one member of the National Symphony Orchestra, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told NOTUS. “They just know inherently how difficult that’s gonna make every aspect of our lives by putting the man’s name on the building.”
The orchestra member lamented that the NSO’s Christmas-season performance of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” is routinely a top-selling concert, but “it had anemic attendance this season … there’s a real fear that this is just adding another accelerant on a pretty outrageous fire.”
Another NSO member told NOTUS that the abrupt name change created “anxiety and confusion” among musicians. The member added that “there’s a lot of fear” regarding what could change in musicians’ collective bargaining agreement, which governs the terms of their employment.
Asked about the possibility of NSO musicians publicly protesting the name change, the orchestra member said: “I don’t know because they’re scared. The way that things have been happening is just without any consultation with anyone, no meetings, no keeping us in the loop with anything. So, I see a lot of them just continuing, moving forward, just to keep their jobs.”
The orchestra member added, “I see a lot of artists now saying, ‘I don’t even want to be in a building with that man’s name on it.’ I don’t know how that’s going to impact the future performances, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it causes problems.”
NOTUS reached out to more than 30 musicians, with most either not responding or declining to comment.
Jennifer Mondie, chair of the NSO Orchestra Committee, told NOTUS in a statement: “At this time, musicians of the NSO do not wish to comment on our workplace. We hope you can understand and respect our position.”
Gianandrea Noseda, music director for the NSO, did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
Other artists have been more vocal, including 17-time Grammy Award winner Béla Fleck, who on Tuesday canceled his upcoming Kennedy Center performance with the NSO.
“Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music,” Fleck said. “I look forward to playing with the NSO another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art.”
In December, musician Kristy Lee told NOTUS in the hours after the center’s renaming that she would cancel her show, scheduled for Jan. 14.
Following her announcement, several groups announced the cancellation of holiday performances, including musician Chuck Redd and veteran jazz band The Cookers.
The Washington National Opera, which like the NSO has an affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center, is also threatening to leave, with Artistic Director Francesca Zambello citing a decline in ticket sales. Zambello declined NOTUS’ request for comment on the Kennedy Center name change.
On Friday evening, after the publication of this article, the Washington National Opera announced that it would be leaving the Kennedy Center.
Richard Grenell, who Trump appointed to head the center, previously called the cancellations the products of “far-left political activists” and “a form of derangement syndrome.”
Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, expressed confidence that the center will thrive under Trump’s leadership.
“After years of neglect by Democrats, President Trump stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center by strengthening its finances, modernizing the building, and ending divisive woke programming,” Huston said in a statement. “As a result, the Board of the Kennedy Center voted unanimously to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center — a historic move that marks a new era of success, prestige, and restored grandeur for one of America’s most iconic cultural institutions.”
The Kennedy Center did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
The National Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1931, has a long — and sometimes complicated — relationship with the Kennedy Center.
The orchestra entered into an artistic affiliation agreement with the center in 1986, which helped the orchestra cover its expenses. The NSO plays many of its 175 or so concerts each year at the Kennedy Center, making it one of the center’s biggest and most consistent draws.
There is no immediate threat of the NSO leaving the Kennedy Center altogether, as members on both the NSO board and the Kennedy Center board must agree to terminating their agreement.
Relations between the Kennedy Center and the NSO grew more complicated in November and December, when the Kennedy Center displaced the NSO in favor of hosting the FIFA World Cup’s 2026 team draw and related events.
One former NSO employee who also spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution told NOTUS that the agreement has left the NSO “intrinsically bonded operationally and financially.”
The Trump name change “hurts the NSO’s future. Audiences are rightfully upset, and it’s hard for them to think beyond the gut reaction of boycotting performances and how those unsold tickets will negatively affect those still working and performing in the building and their ability to do so long term.”
The ongoing Kennedy Center drama has some local arts officials reeling.
“The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a cornerstone of Washington, D.C.’s cultural identity,” Aaron Myers, executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, told NOTUS in a statement.
In light of the name change, the commission’s priority is “ensuring that D.C. remains a place where all artists feel empowered to perform,” he said.
Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex officio Kennedy Center board member, even filed a lawsuit against her own board regarding the name change.
The NSO’s musicians are expected to soon commence new collective bargaining negotiations after having last signed an agreement in 2024. The agreement, which followed a brief labor strike, increased pay and provided additional benefits for musicians in the orchestra, will expire early this year.
The looming negotiations are creating anxiety among some members, particularly given Trump’s interest in the Kennedy Center, a NSO member told NOTUS.
Lucia Lostumbo, who served as assistant artistic administrator for National Symphony Orchestra until September, told NOTUS that she believes that the collective bargaining negotiations will “empower” musicians to speak their mind on the Kennedy Center’s current situation.
Lostumbo said that the negotiations are “designed” to give musicians the chance to ask for “upgrades” and additional “protections,” possibly providing them some cover.
However, she’s concerned about the lasting effect that the administration’s changes to the center could have on the orchestra’s recruitment efforts.
“I could definitely see a world where less and less people are willing to even come and audition, and that could also hurt the overall quality of the orchestra,” Lostumbo said. “If musicians start to leave, or retire early, or try and seek out other jobs, that could lead to more positions being open than in a typical season cycle. And there’s only so many auditions that the orchestra can hold from an administrative point of view.”
The NSO is next scheduled to perform Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” from Jan. 15-17.
On the NSO’s online schedule, the orchestra still refers to its home venue as “The Kennedy Center.”
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