National Symphony Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra has a strong commitment to the development of America’s artistic resources. Through the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund for New Orchestral Works, the Orchestra has commissioned more than 50 works, including cycles of fanfares and encores, which, taken as a whole, are representative of the diverse influences in American composition today. The National Symphony has long been distinguished for its nurturing of young American conductors; that commitment has escalated with the creation in 2000 of the National Conducting Institute, of which Music Director Leonard Slatkin is founder and director. Unique in combining leadership, administrative, and musical training with a major orchestra, the Institute is an advanced training program designed to help conductors successfully make the transition from leading student or part-time orchestras to working with a full-time professional orchestra. Also of note is the Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute. For more than a decade, scholarships provided by the National Trustees of the National Symphony Orchestra have enabled high school students from throughout the country to come to the nation’s capital for several weeks of study with NSO musicians.

Another important project is 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 so far taken the NSO to 15 states.

Throughout its history, the National Symphony Orchestra has served the nation through tours, broadcasts, and other special projects.

For further information, please visit the orchestra’s website http://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/