The musicians of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra are pleased to announce the ratification of three-year contracts with the Kennedy Center and the Washington National Opera. The musicians have accepted a 9% cut in the first year of the contract, with restorations by the third year that will bring them very close to their pre-pandemic salary. This sacrifice signifies a serious commitment on the part of these musicians and their families to assist their employer institutions during a period of unprecedented hardship.

Opera by its very nature was one of the hardest hit art forms during the pandemic and may be the slowest to recover. The ballet program faces similar challenges. We know many audience members are disappointed, as we are, in the paucity of opera and ballet performances in the Opera House this season, those productions having been largely supplanted by more profitable, commercial programming. Now is the time to support these beloved classic art forms and help shepherd them through these difficult times. Fortunately, there is no institution more capable of facing the challenges ahead than the Kennedy Center. Flexibility, creativity, and vision will be the keys to success in nurturing opera and ballet performances in our beautiful workplace. We look forward to working closely with the administrations and boards of our employer institutions to advocate for these art forms that are central to the Kennedy Center’s mission and charter and pledge our full support in leading the way as a beacon for the nation in post-pandemic live performances.

About the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra/Washington National Opera Orchestra

The Washington National Opera Orchestra is the musical heartbeat of the company, playing for all WNO productions in the Kennedy Center Opera House. The same musicians also constitute the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the Center's resident orchestra that provides the music for most musicals and ballets in the Center's nine theaters and performance spaces, as well as the CBS television broadcast of the Emmy® Award-winning Kennedy Center Honors.

Comprising 61 musicians from around the nation and the world, the Orchestra has played under the baton of such famed conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, and Mstislav Rostropovich, as well as WNO Music Director Emeritus Heinz Fricke. Highlights of the Orchestra's history include performances of the world premiere of Menotti's Goya (1986), accompanying WNO on its tour to Japan (2002), the complete Wagner Ring Cycle with former music director Auguin (2016), and numerous recordings and broadcasts that have introduced WNO to audiences around the globe.

Orchestra members hail from China, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, New Zealand, South Korea, and Spain, and all regions of North America. Orchestra members have trained at the leading conservatories in Europe and the United States, including Juilliard, Eastman, and the Curtis Institute, among others, and most hold advanced degrees in their field. Members earn their positions through a highly competitive audition process, and many remain with the company for years and decades, resulting in a cohesive group of artists keenly attuned to the nuances of making music with world-class opera artists.