The Washington National Opera decided Friday to move its performances out of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, abandoning the venue where it has performed since 1971, representing perhaps the biggest artistic rebuke yet to President Trump’s campaign to remake the Kennedy Center in his image.
The opera company is seeking to sever ties with the Kennedy Center after a tumultuous year in which both groups faced artist cancellations, empty seats and the withdrawal of donors protesting Mr. Trump’s intervention. Weeks into his second term, the president named himself president of the center and appointed a political ally, Richard Grenell, as executive director, while packing his board of directors with supporters.
A resolution to leave was approved Friday by the Washington National Opera board of directors, according to a statement provided by the opera to The New York Times.
“Today, Washington National Opera announced its decision to request an amicable early termination of its affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center and to resume operations as a fully independent, nonprofit entity,” the statement said.
The resolution calls on the opera to move its performances out of the Kennedy Center’s 2,364-seat Opera House as soon as possible and reduce the number of performances as a cost-saving measure. Opera officials said new locations in Washington had been planned but no leases had been signed. They refused to name these places.
Officials said details of the new schedule would be announced soon. The Kennedy Center’s website currently lists the opera’s lineup for spring performances, including Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha” and “West Side Story,” as well as its upcoming gala, but a separate website is being created.
The resolution also calls on Washington National Opera to begin negotiations with Mr. Grenell and the Kennedy Center to end an affiliation agreement that has bound the cultural institutions since it was signed in 2011, when the opera was facing financial difficulties.
The opera declined to release a copy of the resolution, which was under negotiation shortly before it was approved by the 37-member board of directors during a virtual meeting Friday. But details of its contents were provided to the Times by officials involved in the deliberations.
Under Mr. Trump and Mr. Grenell, the Kennedy Center attempted to discredit artists who canceled engagements with the center. But on Friday, Roma Daravi, a spokeswoman, said the center agreed that the time had come to end the relationship.
“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with WNO due to a financially difficult relationship,” she said. “We believe this represents the best path forward for both organizations and allows us to make responsible choices that support the financial stability and long-term future of the Trump Kennedy Center.”
In a social media post, Mr. Grenell said ending the arrangement would give the Kennedy Center the flexibility to host operas from around the world. “Having an exclusive opera house just didn’t make financial sense,” he wrote. “And our customers clearly wanted a refresh.”
The opera’s impending departure is the latest sign of resistance to Mr. Trump’s efforts to radically change an institution created in 1971 in honor of John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated eight years earlier.
Opera executives said the decision to leave was a response to declining attendance and fewer donor contributions during the president’s second term, as well as the growing number of artists who have declined to perform at the Kennedy Center since Mr. Trump’s name was added to the building last month. The board’s authority to cancel the Congress and rename the center is disputed, and the Times has continued to refer to its legal name.
“I am deeply saddened to leave the Kennedy Center,” Francesca Zambello, the opera’s artistic director for 14 years, said in a statement to the Times. “I am proud to be affiliated with a national monument dedicated to the human spirit, a place that has long served as a welcoming home to our ever-growing family of artists and opera lovers.”
In its statement, the opera appeared to strive to be conciliatory, naming neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Grenell.
“The company’s board of directors and management wish the center well in its future endeavors, including recognizing the center for securing significant funding, including $275 million from Congress, for the center’s modernization,” the statement said.
The affiliation agreement was first negotiated when Barack Obama was president, establishing a framework for the organizations to work cooperatively to recruit the opera company’s general director (currently Timothy O’Leary) and artistic director, as well as to make decisions about its programming. The Kennedy Center also rents space to the opera company for storage, offices and rehearsals.
Among the most difficult questions to resolve is the future of the opera’s $30 million endowment, which has already become a subject of controversy. The opera says the affiliation agreement makes clear that both entities control the fund, the result of a history of donations from the opera’s supporters in Washington.
Opera officials said they would move all performances out of the center, even if a deal to end its formal ties was reached. They argued that taking their shows to other venues would free the company from management issues with the Kennedy Center — particularly programming and selection of the opera’s top staff — that are addressed in the affiliation agreement.
Washington National Opera was established in 1957, with an inaugural performance of Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio” at George Washington University. With a few exceptions — he performed at Constitution Hall while his Potomac home was under renovation — he has been performing at the Kennedy Center since the building opened.
The opera was founded by Day Thorpe, the Washington Star’s music critic, and provided a stage for some of the generation’s most distinguished performers, including Plácido Domingo (who also served as its artistic director), Anna Netrebko, Denyce Graves and Renée Fleming. He has staged such warhorses as “Carmen” and a new production of the “Ring” cycle in 2016, directed by Ms. Zambello. He also created the American Opera Initiative to highlight young composers.
“Washington National Opera is one of our most important companies,” said Marc A. Scorca, president emeritus of Opera America, a service organization for opera companies. “It presented a mix of works from our legacy repertoire and new works from a wonderful program of young artists.”
Matthew Shilvock, general director of the San Francisco Opera, said Washington National Opera plays “a vital role in expressing national consciousness on the opera stage.”
Since the start of his second term, Mr. Trump has sought to put his stamp on traditionally nonpartisan Washington institutions like the Smithsonian and the Kennedy Center. Mr. Grenell’s nomination came with a clear message from Mr. Trump that he wanted changes in the way things were done at the Kennedy Center.
“Ric shares my vision of a GOLDEN AGE of American arts and culture and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA,” the president said in a social media post at the time.
Washington National Opera officials noted that operas often advance strong political and moral views — whether they were written two centuries ago or two years ago — and that they feared being blocked from performing operas that did not follow Mr. Grenell’s edicts. Among its lineup this season is Robert Ward’s “The Crucible,” based on Arthur Miller’s play that explores the waves of paranoia that engulfed a small town during the 17th-century Salem witch trials.
Additionally, Mr. Grenell said he wants all Kennedy Center productions to be revenue neutral, receiving as much money in ticket sales and contributions as it costs to mount. Operas are expensive to produce and are generally not revenue neutral.
The opera company, in its statement, said the Kennedy Center’s requirement that productions be fully funded in advance was “incompatible with opera operations. Opera companies typically cover only 30 to 60 percent of costs through ticket sales, with the remainder coming from grants and donations that cannot be obtained years in advance when productions must be planned.”
Ms. Zambello publicly discussed leaving the Kennedy Center in an interview with the Guardian in November, saying the Trump administration’s policies had “shattered” donor trust and led to a 40% drop in ticket revenue. “If we can’t raise enough money or sell enough tickets there, we have to look at other options,” she said at the time.
After her remarks sparked an outcry, Ms. Zambello and other opera executives reaffirmed their intention to stay. But since then, she and other opera officials said, the situation has only gotten worse.
Béla Fleck, the famed banjoist, recently announced he was stepping down from National Symphony Orchestra performances, and “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz said he would not host the opera’s gala. Both said showing up at the Kennedy Center became a political statement.
