Experience the electrifying new musical about “the greatest R&B group of all time.” With their signature dance moves and harmonies, The Temptations rose to the top of the charts, and their moving story still resonates five decades later. The show features such iconic hits as “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” and many more.

Everyone’s invited to the joyous Broadway musical that inspired the hit Netflix adaptation. New York Magazine calls it “smart and big-hearted” and The New York Times says the show “makes you believe in musical comedy again!” You belong at The Prom!

Famed for its four-note opening, Beethoven’s Fifth is imaginative, violent, and brimming with drama. Noseda pairs this colossal crowd-pleaser with the First Sinfonia by D.C. native George Walker, the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Gianandrea Noseda pairs Beethoven’s Fourth with the Fourth Symphony by William Grant Still—the first Black composer to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra (Rochester Philharmonic) and to conduct a major American symphony orchestra (Los Angeles Philharmonic).

Follow the inspiring true story of Carole King’s remarkable rise to stardom—from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.

On his occasional breaks from television, comedian John Oliver returns to his first love: stand-up.

Recommended for mature audiences.

2021 goes out with a bang with three masters of jazz: five-time Grammy-winning vocalist Dianne Reeves, Afro-Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés, and saxophone titan Joe Lovano. 

Awaken your holiday spirit with a concert of festive musical treats performed by the Choral Arts Symphonic Chorus and Youth Choir accompanied by a full orchestra in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Celebrate the most wonderful time of the year with Choral Arts, encompassed in a warm glow of sound. The radiant voices of the Chorus return to the Kennedy Center accompanied by the lush sound of a full orchestra and soprano soloist Esther Heideman. Awaken your world with the joyous sounds of the season.

Bring the kids for an unforgettable holiday experience as the Choral Arts Chorus fills the concert hall with holiday classics just for them!

Jingle all the way! Join two-time Grammy winners – the DC region’s dynamic Washington Chorus for a festive family holiday concert like nothing else!

Based on one audience suggestion (a title for a play that has yet to be written) The Improvised Shakespeare Co. creates a fully improvised masterpiece right before your very eyes!

Don’t miss the glorious return of Washington, D.C.’s favorite holiday tradition! For the very first time, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the NSO in selections from the quintessential musical crown of the season: Handel’s Messiah. Experience the beauty of “Rejoice,” “For unto us a Child is born,” “Comfort Ye,” and more iconic music of Messiah’s Part I—coupled with Bach’s celebratory showpiece Magnificat.

Kennedy Center Honoree Wayne Shorter and four-time Grammy Award-winning bassist, composer, and vocalist esperanza spalding blend jazz and classical in their new opera based on the Euripedian myth.

Dulcé Sloan, one of the sharpest, fastest rising voices in comedy, returns to the Kennedy Center. 

Our sparkling holiday celebration returns with carols, sing-alongs, and more! This year, the NSO welcomes Indie-pop queen Ingrid Michaelson performing her biggest hits and songs from her acclaimed holiday album Ingrid Michaelson’s Songs For The Season.

Notes of Honor: NSO Salutes the Military invites all current, retired, veteran, and prior service members to a special FREE performance of A Holiday Pops with Ingrid Michaelson!

Join the NSO in an exciting new atmosphere as the musicians ditch traditional tuxedos and evening gowns—deconstructing the concert experience without deconstructing the music. Don your favorite holiday sweater (ugly or not) and join us for an evening filled with holiday spirit (and holiday spirits). 

This year’s winner, Frederick Ballentine, is praised for his gifted and “gorgeously shiny tenor” (Metro Weekly).

Gianandrea Noseda and the NSO celebrate Mozart masterpieces written in 1791, the year of the composer’s death at age 35. The program includes Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto performed by NSO’s Principal Clarinet Lin Ma, Ave verum corpus, and the famously unfinished Requiem.

Join the decade’s most celebrated tap dance company Dorrance Dance this holiday season for an ELECTRIC offering of tap dance and live music!

Your favorite holiday classics as you’ve never heard them! The Kennedy Center and NPR present A Jazz Piano Christmas, the annual sell-out event featuring today’s best jazz pianists performing the most loved seasonal music.

Venture into a sherbert-hued wonderland with George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker^® from Miami City Ballet—not seen at the Center in over a decade!

Best-selling author Kwame Alexander brings two of his beloved children’s books to the stage in a world premiere Kennedy Center musical adaptation.

Winner of the 2016 Tony^® for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his instantly legendary performance as Aaron Burr in Hamilton, Leslie Odom, Jr. returns to showcase his remarkable versatility and talent.

The unforgettable animated classic returns to the big screen with Michael Giacchino’s Oscar- and Grammy Award-winning score performed live to the film! Follow the unlikely duo of a curmudgeonly 78-year-old balloon salesman and his 8-year-old stowaway on this hilarious, heartwarming journey to a lost world filled with danger and surprises.

As 1st prizewinner of the Washington International Competition for piano, Vivian Chen is presented in recital with the generous underwriting of the Alice and Arthur Nagle Fund.

Khan offers U.S. audiences the final opportunity to see XENOS, his “work of defining greatness” (The Observer).

Australian conductor Simone Young makes her NSO debut in this Benjamin Britten-influenced program featuring Shostakovich’s brooding, deeply personal Tenth Symphony—a riveting portrait of Stalin’s regime. Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma brings her “bright, radiant sound” (The New York Times) to Britten’s Violin Concerto, an elegy for the fallen of the Spanish Civil War.

Explore the story of one of Hip Hop’s most iconic brands as Lyricist Lounge celebrates its 30th Anniversary with a special one-night only event showcasing Rakim, Slick Rick, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and KRS-One.

Widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation, NSO Artistic Advisor Ben Folds brings the brilliant melodies and irony-laced lyrics from his greatest hits to the Concert Hall for one night only! Please note: the National Symphony Orchestra does not perform in this program.

Featuring a musical tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Four performances only! Join the star-studded homecoming we’ve been waiting for, with staged musical selections featuring Pretty Yende, Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Alexandria Shiner, David Butt Philip, Christian Van Horn, and more.

Comprised of titled players of the National Symphony Orchestra, this acclaimed ensemble performs today’s finest chamber repertoire.

Harnessing his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and American history, award-winning musician, producer, director, and best-selling author Questlove engages in an intimate, insightful discussion of his new book MUSIC IS HISTORY. Best-selling author Ben Greenman joins The Roots frontman as moderator of this captivating conversation. A signed copy of MUSIC IS HISTORY is included in the price of your ticket.

Renowned sibling pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque, who The New York Times credits with having “transformed the piano duo,” perform a piece composed especially for them: Bryce Dessner’s Concerto for Two Pianos.

India’s biggest stand-up comedian and Bollywood star Vir Das returns to the Kennedy Center.

Prolific magician/comedian Justin Willman will “amaze, delight, and shock you in a way that’s sure to have your face sore from smiling” (Decider). As USA Today says, he’s “like a magician, but cooler.”

A limited number of VIP Meet-and-Greet tickets are available for both performances.

Enjoy Baroque at its best as “one of the finest Baroque conductors of his generation” (The Independent) leads a joyous program featuring music by Bach and Telemann. Maestro Nicholas McGegan closes the evening with Symphony No. 98 by “father of the symphony” Joseph Haydn.

The NSO kicks off its three-concert series at Northern Virginia’s new state-of-the-art performing arts venue—Capital One Hall! Enjoy Baroque at its best as “one of the finest Baroque conductors of his generation” (The Independent) leads a joyous program featuring music by Bach, Telemann, and “father of the symphony” Joseph Haydn.

Take a musical journey through America’s rich past with the “beloved and irreplaceable” (Gramophone Magazine) Grammy Award®–winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the “adventurous and superb” (The New Yorker) music from Copland House ensemble.

A love story for today…and always. Hadestown is winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Experience the sonic splendor of a full symphony orchestra! The Concert Hall transforms into a lush dreamscape as the NSO performs Daphnis et Chloé, Ravel’s intoxicating ballet based on the mythical Greek romance. The orchestra also presents the premiere of a daring new co-commission by Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón.

already there is an immersive installation designed to be savored in small, timed-entry groups where patrons are invited to explore, indulge, and play in a sensory labyrinth of dance and design.

Check with the Box Office for last minute in-person availability.

Join us for the Washington, D.C. premiere of three-time Grammy winner Arturo O’Farrill’s tribute to one of the most provocative critics and social activists of our time: virtuosic speaker, scholar, and civil rights icon Dr. Cornel West. Inspired by what he called the “innate musicality of West’s words,” O’Farrill and his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra will perform original compositions with West to explore arts, politics, progress, and how uncertainty and improvisation often come hand-in-hand with hope.

Join the NSO in an exciting new atmosphere as the musicians ditch traditional tuxedos and evening gowns—deconstructing the concert experience without deconstructing the music. Nicholas Hersh conducts this unforgettable evening featuring music by new Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, a triumphant portrayal of the composer’s struggle with Fate!

For nearly 40 years, Mountain Stage has been the home of live music on public radio. This special episode, live from the Kennedy Center, is hosted by newly appointed Mountain Stage host, country music singer, and Grammy-winner Kathy Mattea. Mountain Stage is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting and features a variety of musical styles, in genres ranging from traditional roots, folk, blues, and country, to indie rock, alternative, synth pop, world music, and beyond.

The comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host makes his Kennedy Center debut.

Ronald K. Brown returns to fuse the form, rhythm, and history of African dance with contemporary and urban dance styles.

Our quartet-in-residence the Dover Quartet joins forces with pianist Haochen Zhang to launch the 2021-2022 Fortas season with a program of Schubert and Mendelssohn plus a new commission from Marc Neikrug.

Join the “the world’s greatest tenor” (The Telegraph) for an evening of exquisite vocal repertoire by Schubert, Liszt, Mozart, Brahms, Chopin, and more—including esteemed Austrian pianist Helmut Deutsch as accompanist.

In 2018, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther became a cultural phenomenon. Now, you can relive the excitement of T’Challa becoming king and battling Killmonger as the NSO performs Ludwig Göransson’s Oscar-winning score live to picture for the very first time.

Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro both transport audiences to other worlds through their fascinating stories. Now, they’re joining forces in song! Witness the exclusive debut of their new evening of tunes and tall tales.

Grammy Award-winning conductor Paavo Järvi leads Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, a triumphant portrayal of the composer’s struggle with Fate. Also on the program: world-renowned pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet returns to the Concert Hall for an unforgettable performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

Prolific lyricist, writer, actor, and artist Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter hosts an intimate conversation traversing art, inspiration, and creative consciousness with award-winning photographer Devin Allen. Presented as part of #KenCenHipHop’s For the Culture Artist Residency program and Culture Talks Series. 

Paul Taylor Dance Company presents a thrilling program featuring two of Taylor’s masterworks, Company B and Esplanade.

Gianandrea Noseda leads a program spotlighting three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Then, experience the sweeping, spiritual Third Symphony by Florence Price—the first Black woman to have her music performed by a major American orchestra.

Featuring Special Guest Megan Stalter

Jonathan Van Ness is an Emmy-nominated television personality, New York Times best-selling author, podcaster, and hairstylist to the stars. 

VIP packages are no longer available. 

The National Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Gianandrea Noseda make a grand return to the Concert Hall! We’re ecstatic to welcome you back—and there’s no better way to celebrate the return of live performance than Scheherazade, a tour-de-force fantasy showcasing every section of the orchestra. 

Often called the “international rock star” of classical music, few pianists generate as much excitement as Lang Lang. Under the baton of renowned conductor Thomas Wilkins, the classical-crossover icon joins the NSO to perform Beethoven’s intensely dramatic Third Piano Concerto. The evening begins with the world premiere of Peter Boyer’s “Balance of Power,” commissioned by the NSO.

Patton Oswalt returns to the Kennedy Center with his new show Patton Oswalt Live: Who’s Ready to Laugh?

The Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary will officially kick off on September 14 with the 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert, a re-launch of live, full-scale productions at the Center.

Five-time Grammy Award-winning pianist, composer, producer, and founding Kennedy Center Hip Hop Culture Council Member Robert Glasper returns to the intimate Club at Studio K for a dynamic two-week residency in September 2021.

A cosmic mission is unfolding! Don’t miss the onstage debut of the exciting sequel to Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved A Wrinkle in Time. 

To mark the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, reflect on the ongoing loss from COVID-19, and honor those on the front lines throughout the pandemic, the NSO performs a free program led by Gianandrea Noseda and featuring special guests General Colin Powell, Dr. Francis Collins, Isabel Leonard, and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band.

Registration is closed but walk-up attendance is encouraged.