WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s decision to close the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years starting this summer came with no notice to its largest tenant, the National Symphony Orchestra.
The symphony, known as the NSO, began playing at the Kennedy Center in 1971, 55 years ago. According to multiple members of the orchestra, they and their leaders only first learned of the plan from Trump’s Sunday night social media post. In it, Trump said that the arts center would close July 4 “for an approximately two year period of time.”
One person familiar told NBC News, “No one knew this was coming. We had no idea.”
Keeping an orchestra going, this person continued, “is not something you can just turn on and off.”
His plan pending approval by his hand-picked board, Trump wrote that the center was “tired, broken and dilapidated” and needed “Complete Rebuilding” to become “the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World.”
But for the NSO, the decision to shutter the center has created a scheduling nightmare. The orchestra performs three times a week during the season, totaling 150 concerts a year, not including rehearsals. Soloists are contracted years in advance.
Two people with knowledge of the orchestra’s plans tell NBC News that orchestra management was already busy booking as far ahead as the 2028-2029 season.
The central question that orchestra supporters are asking is why the renovations couldn’t be accomplished while keeping sections of the complex open. The Kennedy Center’s last major renovation in 2019 did not require shutting it down.
This time, Trump has argued that if it did not close, “the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruptions with Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer.”
Trump’s decision is still subject to approval by the Kennedy Center board. And in December, that board ratified the controversial decision to rename what was created as a memorial to the assassinated president as the “Donald J. Trump John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” The move could face legal hurdles, experts told NBC News in July, as the law establishing the Kennedy Center explicitly prohibits adding new memorials or plaques to the center.
The sudden decision to shutter has created huge uncertainty for the musicians, whose contract expires later this year and would normally be renegotiated in the next few months. One NSO staff member told NBC News: “There’s uncertainty that everyone is feeling right now with respect to their jobs. They are here to make music and they don’t want to get involved in politics. But every time they turn around, there is conflict around them.”
Orchestra officials say the NSO has been making great strides over the last few years with its world-renowned music director and conductor, Gianandrea Noseda. Two people close to the NSO described Noseda as similar to a football coach — on the sidelines calling plays, pulling the team together into a more cohesive whole, even though he’s not on the field.
“He’s the right music director to have at this time,” in the middle of a crisis, one orchestra official said. “Everyone is energized at the momentum. We seemed to be taking off, we’ve been the tortoise but now we’re here.”
Whether that progress continues will depend on what the Kennedy Center management does, this official said. Another added, “One of the things orchestras do is go on tour when there are renovations. Maybe it will make us even more resilient.”
Simon Woods, president of the League of American Orchestras, told NBC News, “When orchestras need to move out of their halls for renovations, it is normally planned many years in advance as they — like all the performing arts — tend to work many years ahead in planning their season of performances.”
He added that orchestras are nonprofit organizations “that depend on the continuity of audiences and donors to make their music, community programming and educational initiatives widely accessible.”
According to several people with knowledge of the NSO’s finances, its approximate $35 million a year budget comes from three sources: one-third comes from philanthropic donors, one-third from the federal government for administrative and facility costs, and one-third from ticket sales.
The drop-off in ticket sales since Trump exerted more influence over the Kennedy Center this term has been a major problem: audiences are down by as much as 50%, according to figures compiled by The New York Times.
That is more than just a financial blow. A person close to the orchestra says, “It is a bummer when we don’t see people in the audience. The orchestra would rather play to a full hall. The audience is denying themselves their ability to hear a live orchestra. What are they gaining by staying home and listening to a recording?”
Still, those close to the orchestra members say they remain hopeful because, for now, the NSO seems to have the support of the Trump management. In an email to the NSO staff obtained by NBC News, the board’s chair, Joan Bialek, wrote in part, “The Center’s administration is committed to the National Symphony Orchestra and its role in Washington, D.C. and beyond.”
People familiar with the Kennedy Center’s current operations say the Trump-appointed management has also committed to helping the orchestra find another venue. The most likely is the DAR Constitution Hall near the White House, which has a larger capacity than the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall, its largest performance venue.
Some Republicans in Congress, which has legal oversight over the Kennedy Center, are beginning to question how the president plans to pay for the extensive rebuild. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, said, “I need to find out exactly why the decision was made. I don’t know, and I don’t know that anybody else knows.”
She added: “As the appropriator for this, I have a right to ask those questions and to get some answers.”
Congress appropriated $257 million for repair, restoration and maintenance of the Kennedy Center from 2025 to 2029. Compared to other renovations of concert halls, that would not nearly be enough to cover what Trump suggests he is contemplating. He told reporters Monday, “It’s going to be brand new, beautiful. I’ll not be ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel. So, we’re using the structure, we’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down.”
Even many admirers of the Kennedy Center acknowledge that the 1971 building, designed by modernist architect Edward Durell Stone, is badly in need of deferred maintenance. But after Trump’s unannounced bulldozing of the East Wing for the two-story ballroom he’s constructing, some worry the Kennedy Center may be getting a lot more than a renovation.