The executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) announced today (March 6) that she was stepping down amid ongoing turmoil at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Jean Davidson has been the executive director of the NSO since April 1, 2023, and expected to stay until 2031, but felt that she was unable to achieve the organization’s goals due to “external forces.”

“I think it’s no secret that it’s been a hard year,” Davidson told the LA Times. “I had intended to stay through the [orchestra’s] 100th anniversary in 2031, but found it more and more difficult to achieve the goals that we had set out to achieve given the external forces that are at work that are just so far beyond my control.”

Davidson’s departure comes amid a wave of controversy taking place at the Kennedy Center ever since President Trump fired its board and installed himself as chairman in 2025. Since then the Kennedy Center has faced a deluge of artist cancellations, renamed itself the Trump-Kennedy Center, and in February 2026 announced that the center would close for two years for renovations starting July 4.

Davidson attributes much of the logistical chaos to a lack of communication from the Kennedy Center leadership. “There’s been a lot of change going on, and there’s not a lot of communication,” she said. “We are finding out things through the press — at the same time as everyone else. Like the center closing on July 4.”

Davidson has stated that the NSO continues to receive financial support, and that they are in the process of identifying an interim venue for the next two years. “Many venue operators in the D.C. area have been very generously reaching out to us, asking how they can help,” she said.

“Of course, we plan our seasons years in advance, and so next season was already planned. We already have conductors and soloists and all of that, and so it’s a bit of a jigsaw puzzle aligning our existing programming and obligations to those artists with venues that are appropriate for those programs.”

Regarding her future, Davidson said she has accepted the role of executive director and chief executive of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles.