Company Description
Washington National Opera (WNO) is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. Under the leadership of General Director Timothy O’Leary and Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, the company presents a diverse repertory of grand opera and vanguard productions across three main venues of the Kennedy Center, including the 2,200-seat Kennedy Center Opera House.
With a commitment to presenting compelling works executed at the highest levels of artistry, the company balances the standard repertory with new and infrequently performed works. Each season the WNO seeks to shape the future of opera through commissioned American works and a variety of special concerts, youth operas, and events.
Founded in 1956 and an artistic affiliate of the Kennedy Center since 2011, WNO has a storied legacy of groundbreaking world premieres and new productions, international tours, live recordings, radio broadcasts, digitally streamed content, and innovative education and community-engagement programs. In recent years, WNO has championed diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging onstage, on the podium, and behind the scenes, by championing artists and creators who identify as BIPOC, women, and non-binary.
Recent artistic highlights include a sold-out new production of Puccini’s unfinished opera Turandot with an acclaimed world premiere ending by Christopher Tin and Susan Soon He Stanton; the world premiere of Grounded by Jeanine Tesori and George Brant; a new production of Strauss’ Elektra starring Christine Goerke; the D.C. premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue, commissioned by Zambello; the world premiere of Written in Stone, composed for the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary season; the world premiere of Philip Glass’ reconceived Appomattox; powerful performances of Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars; Terence Blanchard’s Champion, commissioned by O’Leary; and the massive feat of WNO’s first complete Ring Cycle, helmed by Zambello and performed to sold-out houses following international acclaim.
WNO is committed to expanding opera’s reach and fostering new generations of artists and audiences. The Cafritz Young Artists program was founded in 2002 and stands as one of the most sought-after training residencies for singers and pianists on the verge of international careers. WNO’s other celebrated initiatives include the American Opera Initiative, which has commissioned and premiered more than 40 new operas since 2012 from new generations of diverse creators; the annual Marian Anderson Vocal Award, recognizing a young American singer in opera, oratorio, or recital repertory; the True Voice Awardfor a singer who identifies as transgender or non-binary; and through The Cartography Project, a collaboration with the Kennedy Center’s Department of Social Impact and the National Symphony Orchestra, WNO commissions composers and librettists from cities nationwide to map Black dignity and Black futures.
WNO education programs include in-person and digital Opera Look-In performances for thousands of grade-school students; the annual WNO Opera Institute, a summer intensive for highly-motivated high school singers around the country; Opera in the Outfield®, a free broadcast in Nationals Park baseball stadium for thousands of community members; the Student Dress Rehearsal Program; free pre-show talks and post-show Q&As after many shows; and the Let’s Go There discussion series, which uses opera as a prism to engage the most meaningful topics in today’s culture.