The National Symphony Orchestra will begin each concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the national anthem in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday.
The decision unveiled Friday to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” throughout the 2025-26 season represents a change for the orchestra, which typically plays the anthem at its season-opening gala in September, but not thereafter.
“The National Symphony should be playing the National Anthem,” said Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell in a statement to The Washington Times.
The orchestra’s 95th season ends in June, just ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, also known as the semiquincentennial, on the Fourth of July.
The decision to spotlight the anthem comes as the latest move by the Trump administration to put its stamp on the storied arts institution.
President Trump overhauled the center’s leadership shortly after taking office in January, removing 18 of the center’s board members, installing himself as board chairman and naming Mr. Grenell to replace former center President Deborah Rutter.
The One Big Beautiful Bill signed by Mr. Trump in July dedicated $257 million to the center, or six times the center’s annual appropriation, for capital repairs and restoration.
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The National Symphony Orchestra will kick off every show in its 2025–2026 season by performing the national anthem in honor of America’s 250th birthday.
It sounds beautiful.
Give it a listen, and we assure you—it sounds EVEN better in person. pic.twitter.com/nPBBxeYfVM
— The Kennedy Center (@kencen) October 11, 2025
House Republicans have introduced legislation to rename the Kennedy Center after Mr. Trump and the center’s opera house after first lady Melania Trump, prompting pushback from members of the Kennedy family, including JFK grandson Jack Schlossberg.
Producers of the Broadway musical “Hamilton” canceled the show’s 2026 run at the Kennedy Center over the “purge” of the cultural institution’s leadership, but not everyone opposes the changes.
The center’s annual gala in September raised a record $3.45 million to benefit the orchestra, drawing 450 guests, about half of whom were attending for the first time, said Mr. Grenell, who served as U.S. ambassador to Germany during the first Trump term.
“President Trump’s vision to make the Kennedy Center available to more people is clearly working. Half the attendees were first-time guests, and their enthusiasm shattered fundraising expectations, nearly triple what had ever been done before,” Mr. Grenell said in a Sept. 29 statement. “The energy in the room was inspiring; it reflects the incredible future of the NSO and how deeply the arts matter to our nation.”
The center also recognized the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israelis with three days of special programming, including a public Sukkah of Hope commemorating the hostages.
