Top National Symphony Leader Quits in New Blow to Kennedy Center [View all]

Source: New York Times

Top National Symphony Leader Quits in New Blow to Kennedy Center

The executive director, Jean Davidson, said her departure reflects frustration at the turmoil that has engulfed the arts center.


It's no secret that this has been a really hard year," the executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Jean Davidson, said of her decision to leave her post after less than three years. Caroline Gutman for The New York Times

By Adam Nagourney
March 6, 2026, 2:00 p.m. ET

The executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra announced Friday that she was stepping down, the latest blow to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as it struggles with declining audiences, artist cancellations and the departure of its opera company in the wake of President Trump's effort to put his imprint on the center.

In an interview, the executive director, Jean Davidson, said she had long wanted to run an arts center like the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif., where she is headed in May. But she said that her decision to move less than three years after she took the Kennedy Center job reflected frustration at the turmoil that has engulfed the center since Mr. Trump named himself as chairman, installed a loyalist, Richard Grenell, as its president, and renamed it the Trump-Kennedy Center.

“It’s no secret that this has been a really hard year,” she said. “So I started looking for a new opportunity several months ago.” ... “I had hoped to stay through the 100th anniversary of the N.S.O. in 2031,” she added.

The orchestra has become increasingly isolated at the Kennedy Center. The moves by Mr. Trump — particularly his effort to place his name on an institution that was opened in 1971 in tribute to John F. Kennedy, the slain president — led to boycotts by audience members and cancellations by top artists. The composer Philip Glass withdrew his new symphony from a scheduled debut with the orchestra, and Béla Fleck, the banjo player, pulled out of three performances with it. Attendance declined by as much as 50 percent.

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Adam Nagourney is the classical music and dance reporter for The Times.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/arts/music/kennedy-center-national-symphony-orchestra-leader-quits.html