The NSO regularly participates in events of national and international importance, including performances for ceremonial state affairs, presidential inaugurations and official holiday celebrations, including the annual National Memorial Day Concert in May and A Capitol Fourth concerts on July 4. The NSO presents a 52-week season of approximately 175 concerts each year. These include classical subscription series, pops concerts, and educational programs.
History
After an initial ad-hoc concert on January 31, 1930, the NSO was officially organized by the Dutch-born American cellist Hans Kindler in 1931, and remained under his direction until 1949.[1] In the early years, Kindler often relied on unemployed local talent or borrowed musicians from other mid-Atlantic cities. During Kindler's tenure, the musicians received a salary of $40.00 per week, covering three rehearsals and one concert, for five months of the year.[2] The first female member of the NSO was harpist Sylvia Meyer, who joined in 1933.[3]
Antal Doráti became music director in 1970. He stood down as music director after 7 years. A deteriorating relationship with the NSO board of directors marked his tenure.[4]Mstislav Rostropovich succeeded Doráti as music director in 1977. In 1986, the NSO became the artistic affiliate of the Kennedy Center, where it had presented a concert season annually since the Center opened in 1971. Rostropovich concluded his NSO tenure in 1994.
Leonard Slatkin was music director of the NSO from 1996 to 2008. One report spoke of tensions between the conductor and the orchestra, and mentioned criticisms of Slatkin's programming and rehearsal styles.[5] With the 2006–2007 season, Iván Fischer became the principal guest conductor of the orchestra.[6][7] On April 13, 2007, the orchestra announced the appointment of Fischer as the orchestra's principal conductor as of the 2008–2009 season, for two seasons.[8][9]
In September 2008, the NSO announced the appointment of Christoph Eschenbach as the orchestra's sixth music director, effective with the 2010–2011 season, for an initial contract of four years.[10] During his tenure, NSO released an album in 2011, including selections of their live performance from their program honoring the 50th anniversary of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's Inauguration.[11] In September 2011, the orchestra extended Eschenbach's contract through the 2014–2015 season. In March 2014, his contract was extended through the 2016–2017 season.[12][13] Eschenbach concluded his tenure as NSO music director at the end of the 2016–2017 season, and subsequently became the NSO's conductor laureate.[14]
In 2011, Gianandrea Noseda first guest-conducted the NSO, and returned in November 2015 for an additional guest engagement. In January 2016, the NSO announced the appointment Noseda as its next music director, effective with the 2017–2018 season.[15] He served as music director-designate in the 2016–2017 season, and his initial contract as music director was for 4 seasons.[16] In September 2018, the NSO announced the extension of Noseda's contract through the 2024–2025 season.[17]
The COVID-19 pandemic caused cancellation of full-scale live in-person concerts, and led to a local community outreach programme in 2020 called "NSO in Your Neighborhood (IYN)". Through this program, NSO held performances mostly outdoors in front of frontline health workers.[18] In June 2022, the NSO announced a further extension of Noseda's contract through the 2026–2027 season.[19] In January 2023, the NSO announced the appointment of Jean Davidson as its next executive director, effective 1 April 2023.[20]
On the morning of 27 September 2024 at 11:00 local time, the musicians of the NSO took industrial action and initiated a work stoppage, the first such action since 1978, after a breakdown in labour negotiations. The management and the musicians reached a settlement by 14:30 local time that same day.[21]
Recordings
Kindler and the NSO made several 78-rpm recordings for RCA Victor, including the two Roumanian Rhapsodies by George Enescu. (Much later, in 1960, the NSO would perform the first of these works under the baton of the visiting Romanian conductor George Georgescu, a close associate and favored exponent of the composer.[22]) One of the more unusual RCA recordings with the orchestra was of the complete ballet music from the opera King Henry VIII by Camille Saint-Saëns, one of the very few recordings conducted by Walter Damrosch. Years later, Howard Mitchell made a series of stereophonic recordings with the orchestra for RCA. Antal Doráti recorded with the orchestra for Decca Records. Mstislav Rostropovich made recordings with the orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon. The orchestra returned to RCA Victor under Leonard Slatkin, until RCA abandoned new classical recordings.
In July 2022, the NSO announced the formation of its own record label, to feature commercial releases of selected live performances.[23]
Additional activities
The NSO's additional programmes include the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute.[24][25]
First Lady Nancy Reagan conducts the National Symphony Orchestra, 1987
Through the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund for New Orchestral Works, the NSO has commissioned more than 50 works, including cycles of fanfares and encores. During his tenure, Slatkin founded the National Conducting Institute in 2000.
As well, the NSO has presented The National Symphony Orchestra American Residencies for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This venture encompasses sharing all elements of classical symphonic music with a specific region of the United States, exploring the diversity of musical influences, and giving the region a musical voice in the nation's center for the performing arts through exchanges, training programs, and commissions. Established in 1992, the project has taken the NSO to fifteen states.
