MISSION STATEMENT
Washington National Opera (WNO)
is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. Founded in 1956 and
now an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the
company boasts numerous artistic
highlights, including world premieres, commissioning of new works and new
productions, international tours, and performances by some of opera’s most
admired artists. WNO productions have been heard around the
world, through radio and television broadcasts on WETA-FM, NPR, SiriusXM
Satellite Radio, and PBS, as well as through audio and video recordings.
WNO recently launched the
American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive new commissioning program that
brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering and
developing the talents of new American composers and librettists. WNO
contributes to the future of opera through two other signature
artist-development programs: the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program is a
leading resident-training program for artists on the verge of international
careers, and the WNO Opera Institute nurtures the ambitions of high-school-age
singers and pianists from across the nation during an intensive three-week
summer program.
WNO’s education and access
initiatives include year-round programs in public schools throughout the
region; Generation O, a popular discount-ticket initiative for young
people; and a variety of lectures and discussions for every production on the
season calendar. Among the most popular of WNO’s community programs is M&M’S® Opera in the Outfield, which
brings free, live simulcasts of opera to Nationals Park for thousands of opera
fans as well as new audiences.