National Symphony Orchestra


National Symphony Orchestra

(NSO), Washington, D.C., founded in 1931 by Hans Kindler, who conducted the orchestra until 1949. Its first home was Constitution Hall; since 1986 it has been affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to a regular schedule of concerts, the NSO performs for state occasions, presidential inaugurations, holiday festivities, and other national and international events. The orchestra also has a pops season, holds summer concerts on the Capitol's West Lawn and at Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Va., and tours widely. Music directors of the orchestra since Kindler have been Howard Mitchell (1949–70), Antal DoratiDorati, Antal
, 1906–88, Hungarian-American conductor, b. Budapest. Dorati studied with Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. He made his conducting debut at 18 at the Budapest Opera.
..... Click the link for more information.  (1970–77), Mstislav RostropovichRostropovich, Mstislav
, 1927–2007, Russian cellist, pianist, and conductor. He made his cello debut in 1940 and his conducting debut in 1968, toured with the Moscow Philharmonic, and taught at the Moscow Conservatory until his friendship with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and
..... Click the link for more information.  (1977–94), Leonard SlatkinSlatkin, Leonard
, 1944–, American conductor, b. Los Angeles. Slatkin is known for his interpretations of 20th-century American music as well as of the standard classical repertory. Raised in a musical family, he studied violin, viola, piano, and composition.
..... Click the link for more information.  (1996–2008), Christoph EschenbachEschenbach, Christoph,
1940–, German conductor and pianist, b. Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), as Christoph Ringmann. Orphaned during World War II, he was adopted by Wallydore Eschenbach, his mother's cousin, who taught him piano.
..... Click the link for more information.  (2010–17), and Gianandrea NosedaNoseda, Gianandrea,
1964–, Italian conductor, b. Milan. He has been principal conductor of the BBC Philharmonic (2002–11), music director of the Teatro Regio di Torino, Italy (2007–), and music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, D.C.
..... Click the link for more information.  (2017–).