Kennedy Center dealt another blow as National Symphony Orchestra leader quits amid Trump takeover

Under Donald Trump’s control, the Kennedy Center has lost another important member of the performing arts community: Jean Davidson, general director of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Davidson, who first took on the role in April 2023, said he was resigning. citing the “current climate”.

“It’s no secret that this has been a really difficult year,” he said New York Times. “So I started looking for a new opportunity a few months ago.”

He said he “hopes to stay until NSO’s 100th anniversary in 2031.” The National Symphony Orchestra was founded in the nation’s capital in 1931 by cellist and conductor Hans Kindler. It has been an artistic affiliate of the Kennedy Center since 1986.

Davidson’s decision comes more than a month after Trump announced plans to close the performing arts center in Washington, D.C., starting July 4 and continuing through 2028.

“I didn’t understand how I could be effective as a leader in the current environment,” he admitted, adding: “There’s so much change going on and there’s not a lot of communication. We find out about things through the press — at the same time as everyone else. It’s like the center closing on the Fourth of July.”

The president stated in February that the closure would allow for the construction of a “spectacular new Entertainment Complex.”

“This landmark decision, based on the opinions of many Distinguished Experts, will take a tired, broken and dilapidated Center that has been in poor shape for many years, both financially and structurally, and transform it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music and Entertainment like never before,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Kennedy Center, opened in 1971 in memory of the late President John F. Kennedy. faced significant and detrimental changes Since Trump fired the current board and replaced it with his own Republican allies shortly after returning to office.

Scores of artists have since pulled out of scheduled events at the Kennedy Center in protest. Famous composer Philip Glass was one of the last to withdraw from the summer period, when he was expected to premiere his new symphony.

“After thoughtful consideration, I have decided to withdraw my Symphony No. 15, ‘Lincoln,’ from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” he said in a statement on Instagram.

“Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the Kennedy Center’s values ​​today are in direct conflict with the Symphony’s message,” Glass said. “Therefore, I feel compelled to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership.”