The Washington National Opera (WNO) is taking its final bow and leaving the Trump-Kennedy Center in what one WNO director called the “takeover” of the institution by President Donald Trump.
“Today, the Washington National Opera announced its decision to seek an amicable early termination of its affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center and resume operations as a fully independent nonprofit entity,” the opera said in a statement to the New York Times.
The company said its board of trustees voted to move all its upcoming performances out of the center’s 2,364-seat Opera House. They intend to find new locations in Washington, DC, but no leases have yet been signed.
A separate website is now operating to confirm the departure.
As Breitbart News reported, Trump took over operations of the Kennedy Center and appointed himself the chairman of the storied theater last February.
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The renaming of the facility “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” soon followed.
In December, the Trump-Kennedy Center board unanimously voted to add the president’s name to the edifice, angering left-wingers.
Several artists have since cancelled their Trump-Kennedy Center performances in response to the president’s move.
In March, Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller said in a social media post that “our show simply cannot, in conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.”
The Washington National Opera is moving its performances from the Donald Trump – John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts which has been its home since 1971. (Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty)
Actor and producer Issa Rae, Grammy-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens, Peter Wolf and rock band Low Cut Connie all called off Kennedy Center performances, too.
Francesca Zambello, WNO’s artistic director, flagged back in November the WNO departure was a possibility as a result of the “takeover” of the center by Donald Trump.
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