National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C.
NOTE: This is the US based orchestra. For the UK based one, see The National Symphony Orchestra.

Founded in 1931. In 1986, the National Symphony became an artistic affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it has performed a full season of subscription concerts since the Center opened in 1971. The 96-member NSO participates in televised appearances for Capitol Concerts, and local radio broadcasts on Classical WETA 90.9FM.

The NSO performs approximately 150 concerts each year, including classical and popular concerts at the Kennedy Center, at Wolf Trap in the summer, and on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Members give chamber music performances in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater and on its Millennium Stage, and at theaters around Washington, D.C. The Orchestra also has a history of touring, both internationally and nationally, in addition to its American Residencies program, which ran from 1992 to 2011.

The NSO has collaborated with artists as Boyz II Men, Common, Ben Folds, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Mason Bates, and Bryce Dessner; tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain; Broadway stars Megan Hilty, Audra MacDonald, Laura Osnes, and Santino Fontana; rock stars the Indigo Girls and Melissa Etheridge, country singer LeAnn Rimes; and jazz pianist Jason Moran.

Through its Hechinger Commissioning Fund, the NSO has commissioned and premiered more than 60 new works by American composers since the fund’s creation in 1983. Since 1934, the NSO has been bringing U.S. and world premieres to Washington, D.C. audiences.