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The company was founded by Day Thorpe, music critic of the Washington Star, along with other visionaries who decided that the nation’s capital should have its own opera company. He called it the Opera Society of Washington (it was later renamed The Washington Opera), assembled members of the National Symphony Orchestra for the pit, and engaged Paul Callaway, organist and choirmaster of Washington Cathedral, as music director.

The Opera Society’s inaugural production on January 31, 1957 was not with a tried-and-true staple, but with Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio. Performances were held in George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium. Conductor Callaway held rehearsals in New York, as that is where the singers were, and props had to be assembled from various sources including the Turkish Embassy. Nevertheless, the production was a huge success.

Another offering was immediately scheduled, a double-bill of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief and The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore. This began a long association with the composer which included the 1986 world premiere of Goya, televised nationally on PBS. Igor Stravinsky also came to D.C. and conducted a pair of his operas, Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex, which were recorded by Columbia. Such composers as Paul Hindemith, Samuel Barber, and Lee Hoiby were here as well in those early years directing, conducting, or supervising productions of their operatic works. Legendary baritone Tito Gobbi also directed a three-performance run of Puccini’s Tosca for the company in March 1978.

Since there was no “company” in the literal sense, Opera Society productions had to be conceived individually and financial support scraped up, opera-by-opera. Despite this, the company achieved remarkable results and, in 1967, commissioned the world premiere of Alberto Ginastera’s Bomarzo. Frequently, though, success came at a price. In December 1970, for instance, Frederick Delius’s Koanga, an American premiere, was the only opera that the company was able to mount that season.

With the enthusiastic support of Roger Stevens, chairman of the board of the then-new John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Artistic Director Ian Strasfogel moved the company’s performances into the Kennedy Center Opera House in the fall of 1971 with the world premiere of Ginastera's Beatrix Cenci. The company was named the resident opera company of the Kennedy Center.

In 1975, George London, one of the great bass-baritones of his generation, became the company’s general director. By this time, the season had expanded to three productions per year and London began developing ambitious long-range plans. Also at this time one of the company's most energetic supporters, Christine F. Hunter of The Gramma Fisher Foundation of Marshalltown, Iowa, became president of the Board of Trustees.

When London suffered a heart attack in 1977, Gary Fifield, London's managing director, and Francis Rizzo, the artistic administrator at Wolf Trap, stepped up to produce three challenging seasons.

When London was unable to resume his position, Martin Feinstein, then executive director of performing arts at the Kennedy Center, was appointed general director. Under Feinstein's guidance and with the support of David Lloyd Kreeger (who had become president of the Board of Trustees), Washington National Opera became the first U.S. opera company to produce a repertory season in two separate theaters: the 2,200-seat Opera House and the 1,100 seat Eisenhower Theater. The introduction of English supertitles in 1984 proved an instant hit and attracted new audiences.

From 1979 to 1995, Feinstein led the company in presenting several important productions, including the world premieres of Menotti’s Goya and Argento’s The Dream of Valentino, Carmen with Denyce Graves, Turandot with Eva Marton, Samuel Ramey in Mefistofele, Salome with Maria Ewing, Barber’s Vanessa, d’Albert's rarely performed Tiefland, the East Coast premiere of Argento’s The Aspern Papers, Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, La bohème directed by Gian Carlo Menotti, and the American premiere of the Chinese work Savage Land. With L’Orchestre de Paris, the company co-produced the Mozart/da Ponte operas, conducted by Daniel Barenboim and staged by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. With L’Opéra de Monte Carlo, the company produced the Rimsky-Korsakov gem The Tsar’s Bride, which began a Russian cycle including Eugene Onegin and Pique Dame.

In the spring of 1996, the leadership of Washington National Opera, headed by Board chairman Mrs. Eugene B. Casey, realized that the company needed to accommodate its expanding audiences and address its growing needs for more performances and space for rehearsals, set/costume storage, educational programs and administrative offices. Mrs. Casey gave the company a gift of $18 million to purchase the Woodward and Lothrop building, a former department store in downtown D.C., at a bankruptcy auction. The opera purchased the “Woodies” building, zoning was obtained, and the architectural firm of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and other experts formulated a new Opera House design. But when the plan that satisfied the company’s minimum requirements was priced at $200 million, and the company had raised $75 million, the Kennedy Center asked the opera to consider staying. The resulting agreement in the summer of 1998 between the opera and the Kennedy Center reaffirmed their relationship, allowing the opera to increase its number of performances in the Opera House over a 15-year period. In February 1999, the opera sold the “Woodies” building for $28.2 million to Douglas Development. The net proceeds of the sale were used to endow the Opera's Eugene B. Casey Fund.

With its many new productions, Washington National Opera’s sets and costumes that originally triumphed in D.C. have been seen by audiences in Italy, France, Australia, Israel, and Canada, and across the U.S., from New York to Seattle and Miami to Los Angeles. Motion picture companies have used Washington National Opera productions, from Oliver Stone’s production company to the feature film Guarding Tess, starring Shirley MacLaine.

The company expanded its facilities with the 2000 opening of the Washington National Opera Studio in Takoma Park. This facility’s rehearsal spaces are large enough to accommodate three different productions simultaneously, houses a well-equipped costume shop, and is home to Washington National Opera’s Center for Education and Training. Introduced in the spring of 2004, the Center houses the celebrated Cafritz Young Artist (CYA), program award-winning Education and Community Programs department, and newly created Apprentice and Intern programs.

Founded in 2002, the CYA program quickly became one of the nation’s most competitive and comprehensive professional training programs for young singers and coach/accompanists. The program guides promising young singers in their transition from student to international opera artist by providing private voice lessons, master classes, vocal coaching in roles, and training in languages and in the dramatic arts from the finest teachers and coaches in the field. Nutrition education, stress-reduction counseling, and advice on how to build and manage a professional career as an opera artist are also included. All singers have the opportunity to perform principal, supporting, or cover roles in main stage productions.

Washington National Opera has worked since its inception to encourage the development of gifted young American artists. Early discoveries included Reri Grist and James McCracken (who sang his first Otello in the 1960 season). American artists who performed here in the early days of their careers include Rockwell Blake, Justino Diaz, Maria Ewing, Donald Gramm, Catherine Malfitano, John Reardon, George Shirley, Frederica von Stade, Richard Stilwell, Shirley Verrett, and Benita Valente. More recently, Tracy Dahl, Denyce Graves, Jan Grissom, Jerry Hadley, Eric Halfvarson, Hei-Kyung Hong, Ashley Putnam, J. Patrick Raftery, Ruth Ann Swenson, Jeffrey Wells, Ruth Welting, and Sheryl Woods received a career boost as young artists at Washington National Opera.

WNO has attracted such conductors as the Berlin Staatsoper's Heinz Fricke (who became WNO’s music director in 1993), Daniel Barenboim (in his U.S. operatic debut), André Previn, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Nicholas McGegan, John Mauceri, Daniel Oren, Arnold Ostman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Max Rudolf (in his final operatic appearance), Gerard Schwarz (in his operatic debut), and Leonard Slatkin. Other important productions were entrusted to such young American conductors as Richard Buckley, Paulette Haupt, Cal Stewart Kellogg, Keith Lockhart, Anne Manson, Steven Mercurio, Joseph Rescigno, and Patrick Summers.

Washington National Opera has called on such innovative directors of theater and film as Bruce Beresford, Werner Herzog, Michael Kahn, Mark Lamos, Donald Saddler, and the late Peter Mark Schifter, as well as internationally renowned directors with extensive operatic experience, including John Copley, Frank Corsaro, Piero Faggioni, Colin Graham, Michael Hampe, Lotfi Mansouri, Gian Carlo Menotti, Elijah Moshinsky, Stephen Lawless, the late Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, and Franco Zeffirelli.

In spring 2003, Washington National Opera moved into its temporary home at DAR Constitution Hall while the Kennedy Center Opera House underwent significant renovations to improve accessibility for all patrons. The specially-constructed thrust stage and positioning of the orchestra at the back of the stage made DAR Constitution Hall a wonderful venue in which to enjoy opera, particularly as the unique set up permitted the use of technological innovations such as multi-layered projections. From spring 2003 through the first half of the 2003–2004 season, the company staged six operas at DAR Constitution Hall: Aida, Don Giovanni, Fidelio, Die Fledermaus, Norma, and Die Walküre.

On March 27, 2004, Washington National Opera returned to the renovated Kennedy Center Opera House with a thrilling line-up of operas, including a new production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Verdi’s La traviata, and the East Coast premiere of André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Highlights of the Opera House renovations include an updated interior design, a new orchestra cross aisle, more wheelchair accessible seating, better lighting and environmental control, and an improved performance experience through a new sound system and larger orchestra pit.

Recent seasons have continued the traditions set by the founders of WNO, offering performances by the greatest talents the opera world has to offer, in works beloved and unfamiliar. WNO’s commitment to nurturing the future of the art form manifests itself in the celebrated CYA Program and the annual Opera in the Outfield^® event, in which a production is simulcast for free to Nationals Park. These programs, along with the considerable work and outreach of the Education Department continue to broaden the public’s awareness and understanding of opera, and cultivate the next generation of opera stars and supporters of the arts. In 2003, WNO launched Generation O, rebranded as BravO in 2014, a program for patrons age 18 to 40, which makes WNO attractive to young opera lovers and new opera listeners through specially-priced tickets, special events, and educational opportunities. In 2012, WNO launched the American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive new commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering and developing the talents of new American composers and librettists.

Washington National Opera officially affiliated with the Kennedy Center in 2011.

In 2012, Francesca Zambello was appointed artistic director of WNO. As an internationally recognized director of opera and theater, she had directed productions with Washington National Opera since 2001 and continues to do so today. In 2016, as a perfect culmination to the 60th anniversary season, Zambello brought Washington National Opera to the international stage when she led the company to present three full acclaimed and sold-out cycles of Wagner's Ring. With Zambello at the helm, WNO has also made a tradition of holiday operas, showcasing productions of Hansel and Gretel, The Little Prince, and the world premiere of the children’s opera, The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me.

Timothy O’Leary began his tenure as general director of Washington National Opera in July 2018. As general director, O’Leary works closely with WNO’s Board of Directors and Artistic Director Francesca Zambello to provide strategic and operational oversight of the entire company. In collaboration with Zambello, he partners with other members of the Kennedy Center’s senior leadership team to expand how Washington National Opera and the Center serve audiences, the Washington, D.C. community, and the international arts community.

Under this combined leadership, and along with Principal Conductor Evan Rogister, Washington National Opera’s mission is to achieve the highest artistic standards, and to inspire, connect, and enrich our community, to shape the future of opera, and to illuminate the American and human experience. The WNO tells timeless stories with programming that excites, entertains, engages, and educates. We are committed to diversity and balance – presenting classic, contemporary, and American works – to broad local, national, and international audiences.

Recent seasons have continued the traditions set by the founders of WNO, offering performances by the greatest talents the opera world has to offer, in works beloved and unfamiliar. WNO's commitment to nurturing the future of the art form manifests itself in the celebrated Cafritz Young Artist Program and the annual Opera in the Outfield® event, in which a production is simulcast for free to Nationals Park. These programs, along with the considerable work and outreach of the Education Department continue to broaden the public's awareness and understanding of opera, and cultivate the next generation of opera stars and supporters of the arts. In 2003 WNO launched Generation O, rebranded as BravO in 2014, a program for patrons age 18 to 40, which makes WNO accessible to young opera lovers and new opera listeners through specially-priced tickets, special events, and educational opportunities. And in 2012 WNO began the American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive new commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering and developing the talents of new American composers and librettists.

Washington National Opera officially affiliated with the Kennedy Center in 2011.

In 2012, Francesca Zambello was appointed as Artistic Director of the opera. As an internationally recognized director of opera and theater, she had directed productions with Washington National Opera since 2001 and continues to today. The opera's vision under Zambello is to bring stories to the stage that are classic and contemporary as well as those that illuminate the American experience. With Zambello at the helm, the opera has made a tradition of the annual holiday opera, showcasing productions of Hansel and Gretel, The Little Prince, and the world premiere of the children's opera, The Lion, the Unicorn and Me. In 2016, as a perfect culmination to the 60th anniversary season, Zambello brought Washington National Opera to the international stage when she led the company to present three full cycles of Wagner's Ring.

Timothy O'Leary began his tenure as General Director of Washington National Opera in July 2018. As General Director, O'Leary works closely with WNO's Board of Directors and Artistic Director Francesca Zambello to provide strategic and operational oversight of the entire company. In collaboration with Zambello, he partners with other members of the Kennedy Center's senior leadership team to expand how Washington National Opera and the Center serve audiences, the Washington, D.C. community, and the international arts community.

Under this combined arts leadership, Washington National Opera continually strives to reach the highest artistic standards in its performances and programs in the nation's capital.