{"id":18282,"date":"2026-01-27T18:16:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/philip-glass-pulls-new-symphony-from-kennedy-center\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:16:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:16:37","slug":"philip-glass-pulls-new-symphony-from-kennedy-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/philip-glass-pulls-new-symphony-from-kennedy-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Philip Glass pulls new symphony from Kennedy Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Famed American composer Philip Glass on Tuesday announced he is pulling the premiere of his newest symphony, titled \u201cLincoln,\u201d from the Kennedy Center, becoming the latest performer to cut ties with the beleaguered institution since its takeover by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cSymphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony,\u201d Glass said in a post on social media<\/a>. \u201cTherefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

He joins a growing list of artists who have canceled performances at the Kennedy Center since Trump\u2019s overhaul of Washington\u2019s premier arts center. Grammy winner Renee Fleming canceled performances set for May, the institution announced on its website<\/a>. More performers, including banjo player B\u00e9la Fleck and singer Sonia De Los Santos, as well as groups such as the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Seattle Children\u2019s Theater, have also canceled planned shows.<\/p>\n

Trump has made rebranding the Kennedy Center a priority since returning to the White House early last year. He axed several members from the center\u2019s board<\/a> and installed himself as chair in February 2025, later bringing on longtime ally Richard Grenell to serve as interim executive director<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In December, the newly reformed Kennedy Center\u2019s board voted to add the president\u2019s name<\/a> to the building. One lawmaker, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio member of the board, sued in protest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump has also taken a personal interest in a refurbishment of the Center, including overseeing details down to the theater\u2019s armrests<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Glass, 88, is one of the country\u2019s most celebrated living composers, an early pioneer of minimalism<\/a> in classical music and famous in part for scores in films such as 2002\u2019s “The Hours” and “The Truman Show,” starring Jim Carrey.<\/p>\n

The center did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his cancellation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Famed American composer Philip Glass on Tuesday announced he is pulling the premiere of his newest symphony, titled \u201cLincoln,\u201d from the Kennedy Center, becoming the latest performer to cut ties with the beleaguered institution since its takeover by President Donald Trump. \u201cSymphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}