The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra

About the Artist

The year 1971 marked the long-awaited opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. On opening night, Leonard Bernstein's Mass was given its world premiere in the Opera House. Among the musicians performing in the orchestra was a group of Washington D.C. area artists who would become the nucleus for the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.

In 1993, the world-renowned German opera conductor, Heinz Fricke, was appointed to the joint position of Music Director of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and the Washington Opera. Thanks to his leadership and dedication, the orchestra has reached a new level of excellence, and consistently receives favorable notice from the press. Maestro Fricke has brought the Orchestra out of the pit and onto the stage of the Kennedy Center Concert Hall stage. These concerts, which have ranged from an all Wagner program to productions showcasing members of the orchestra as soloists, have been met with great enthusiasm from critics and audiences alike.

Today the 64 musicians hail from South Korea, Spain, England, Russia, Hungary, and all regions of North America. They are highly trained musicians who have attended the conservatories of Juilliard, the Eastman School of Music, Oberlin, the Curtis Institute, the Manhattan School of Music, and other leading music schools of the United States and Europe. Sixty-five percent of the members hold advanced degrees in their field. Positions are filled through a highly competitive process of national auditions, and winning such an audition is a signal event in any musician's musical career.