“The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Unveils Special Programming and New Initiatives to Champion Cultural Leadership and Celebrate 50- Year Milestone, including a Fall Reopening”

Photo by Erin

From the Kennedy Center:

“The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the nation’s performing arts center as designated by Congress, today announced plans for its much-anticipated 50th Anniversary season, slated to begin in September 2021 with a grand reopening of its stages and campus and culminate in September 2022 with a fresh interpretation of the seminal work that opened the Center in 1971, Leonard Bernstein’s MASS. In addition to a celebratory reactivation of the Kennedy Center’s campus in mid-September, including an opening concert curated and hosted by Michael Tilson Thomas, the Center will unveil two immersive, interactive exhibits, and a new life-sized statue of John F. Kennedy on the grounds of the REACH.

The anniversary season will also feature a new cultural leadership initiative (Kennedy Center Next 50); four artist residencies; numerous new works; Washington National Opera (WNO)-led series of operatic works inspired by D.C.’s many monuments and iconic buildings, Written in Stone; seven commissioned works for the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), including a new symphony by Philip Glass and works by Mason Bates, Missy Mazzoli, Angélica Negrón, Joan Tower, James Lee III, and Peter Boyer; the premieres of eight social justice works from the Center’s Cartography Project; and new play commissions under the auspices of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. To open the 50th Anniversary season in September, the Kennedy Center will host two consecutive weekends of performances and free activities on the REACH campus.

“I can think of no better way to reemerge from the darkness of these last many months than to reopen with a vibrant, season-long celebration of the Center’s rich history and the bright future of the arts in our nation,” said Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter. “At the heart of our planning and preparation, even as we continue to navigate health and financial challenges, is the desire to present a season and a fresh patron experience that taps into our 50 years of history as the National Cultural Center. We will reawaken those stories and ensure that all are invited to participate and tell us their own. But we also want to continue shining a light on the future of the performing arts with works and initiatives that speak to the promise of America’s greatest asset–the human spirit and diversity of our artists. ”

Spring and summer 2021 activity as well as the full 2021-2022 seasons for theater, dance, ballet, jazz, young audiences, Fortas Chamber Music, NSO, and WNO will be announced and go on sale in the coming weeks and months. As the Kennedy Center moves towards a full re-opening, it continues to prioritize the health and safety of artists, staff, and patrons. Current protocols can be found here and will continue to be updated as local health conditions evolve.

Milestones and Reflections

National Symphony Orchestra Concert of Remembrance (September 10)

To mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, reflect on the ongoing loss from Covid-19, and to honor the healthcare professionals who have been on the front lines throughout the pandemic, a commemorative program featuring the National Symphony Orchestra and conducted by NSO music director Gianandrea Noseda will take place in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Two 50th Anniversary Weekends in September (September 11-12, 18-19)

On the weekends of, September 11-12 and 18-19, the Center invites the community to participate in a range of free activities for the public including the world premiere of Ragamala Dance Company’s Fires of Varanasi, yoga, meditation on the REACH lawn in the morning, dance sanctuaries throughout the campus, and more.

On Sunday, September 12, select local community and school groups will work with current Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems to create a large-scale public art “playscape” on the REACH Plaza that will remain installed for a significant portion of the 50th Anniversary season. Conceived by Willems as a culminating event for his residency, We Are All Connected is inspired by one of his abstract pieces of art, consisting of interconnected colored dots and lines, showing how we are all connected in unexpected ways. The collaborative installation will be paired with live music, book readings, activities, and more–a festival of creation designed to bring people together.

On September 18, in addition to morning yoga and meditation, the Center will celebrate National Dance Day with lively, participatory activations for the public throughout the REACH and the Kennedy Center campus. Additional details about programming and access will be made available in the coming months.

50th Anniversary Celebration Concert (September 14, 2021)

The Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary will officially kick off on September 14 with a 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert, a celebration and re-launch of live, in-person performing arts in America. Echoing “An American Pageant for the Arts,” the 1962 event conducted by Leonard Bernstein, this special evening will be curated and hosted by Michael Tilson Thomas and will bring together the NSO with preeminent artists of our time to recognize the great performance traditions that have enriched our varied cultural heritage and the bright future that lies ahead.

50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center

Over the past half-century, the Kennedy Center has launched and presented numerous iconic new musicals–such as Pippin, Annie, and Les Misérables–plus thrilling revivals from its stages to Broadway. In a star-studded concert featuring Broadway’s best talent and backed by an onstage orchestra, in the spring of 2022, 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center will celebrate many of the great musical theater moments from throughout the Center’s history.

Leonard Bernstein’s MASS at 50 (September 15-17, 2022)

As the concluding event of the Center’s 50th Anniversary season, Leonard Bernstein’s MASS will return to the Center in September 2022. Directed by Francesca Zambello, Artistic Director of WNO, this monumental work will be re-staged in the Concert Hall and feature the NSO along with 2020 Marian Anderson Award winner Will Liverman as the Celebrant.

Originally commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for the opening of the Center, MASS was a unique theatrical experience considered controversial for the time. To honor and memorialize the Center’s namesake, the first Roman Catholic President, Bernstein chose to base the work on the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Tridentine Mass. Together, Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Schwartz envisioned the piece as a fully staged dramatic pageant rather than as a concert. MASS mixed sacred and secular texts, using the traditional Latin liturgical sequence as the framework and inserting contemporary English subtext that questioned and challenged the prescribed service. Ultimately, it serves, according to the composer in a 1971 program note, as a “reaffirmation of faith.” Additional details will be announced at a later date.”