The National Symphony Orchestra has begun to open all its performances with the national anthem, the latest indication of how President Trump is putting his imprint on the Kennedy Center, the orchestra’s home.
The new policy was put in place at the direction of Richard Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany, whom Trump appointed as the center’s president after installing himself as its chairman. The president purged 18 members from the center’s formerly bipartisan board who had been appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
“The National Symphony should be playing the national anthem,” Grenell told Fox News Digital, which had reported the new policy earlier.
Like many other American orchestras and opera companies, the symphony used to play “The Star-Spangled Banner” only at the opening of its seasons. It did so again this year when it kicked off its 95th season on Sept. 27 with works by Tchaikovsky, Copland, and Dvorak.
“People were really moved by the season-opening performance of the anthem, so we thought, why not play it at every performance?” said Jean Davidson, the orchestra’s executive director. “We are the orchestra in the nation’s capital. And we are about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation.”
The decision comes as the president has been emphasizing what he calls “patriotic history” during the run-up to ceremonies marking next year’s anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence While this may be the highest-profile orchestra to play the anthem at every performance, it is not the only one. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra plays “The Star-Spangled Banner” at every performance, at the request of the chairman of its board, the philanthropist Mercedes T. Bass.
“She feels that performing the anthem creates a really festive atmosphere for each performance and presents the symphony in a favorable light,” said Keith Cerny, the president of the Fort Worth symphony. “This is a very patriotic community. I think if we were to stop doing it, we would have a lot of disappointed patrons.”
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic has a tradition of playing the anthem as well, and that factored into its search for a new music director in 2016. “There were a series of questions that we posed to the candidates,” said Brent Hart, the orchestra’s executive director. “One of them was: ‘Will you continue playing the national anthem?’ It was basically a job requirement.”
The practice is popular there. “Everyone does stand and participate,” he said. “It’s a beloved tradition.”
The Los Angeles Philharmonic plays the anthem at its Hollywood Bowl concerts each summer, a century-old tradition that brings the crowd to its feet at the first rat-tat-tat of the snare drum. The policy was instituted at the request of one of the original founders of the Bowl, Artie Mason Carter.
“Because L.A. was made up of migrant and immigrant communities, she saw the Bowl as a unifying space where singing the anthem was part of reinforcing the idea that we’re all Americans,” said Leah Price, the director of public relations for the L.A. Phil. But the orchestra only performs the anthem when it plays at the Bowl, its summer home, not at its regular seasons at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Across the nation, there is a patchwork of policies on whether and when to play the anthem at classical music performances. (As opposed to say, baseball stadiums, where it is as common as an $8 hot dog).
Davidson said that the National Symphony would experiment with different arrangements of the anthem. ‘We were thinking we might have some fun with it,” she said. “We might do a version with just our trumpets.”
Among the new versions set to be played is Igor Stravinsky’s unusual arrangement from 1941.
When Stravinsky conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra in his arrangement in 1944, a report in The New York Times said, its “odd, somewhat dissonant harmonies” startled the audience. The Times later reported that the Boston Police had warned the composer that he could face a fine of up to $100 under Massachusetts law for his arrangement, but that the police commissioner had said no action would be taken.
That arrangement survived and is more appreciated now.
Davidson said that even in these polarizing times — with much of that polarization being played out at the Kennedy Center — she thought that playing the national anthem would unite concertgoers across the political spectrum.
“The national anthem is noncontroversial, no matter your political background,” she said. “I think everyone finds it to be deeply moving.”
Adam Nagourney is a Times reporter covering cultural, government and political stories in New York and California.
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