Photo: Renee Fleming | By Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill | NOT A POLITICAL STATEMENT: Music Business News: President Trump’s ascension to chair of the Kennedy Center on Wednesday led to multiple departures from the Washington, D.C., institution. Trump last week announced he was replacing several members of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees and would name himself chair. On Wednesday, the new board elected Trump as chair of the board.
At approximately the same time that Trump announced his chairmanship, musician Ben Folds said he would resign as artistic adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra, “given developments at the Kennedy Center.”
“It’s been a wonderful 8 years” the former Ben Folds Five singer wrote on Instagram on Wednesday, saying he and the Kennedy Center’s staff encouraged “thousands of fresh new audiences to appreciate symphonic music.”
The award-winning opera singer and actress Renée Fleming said she would depart from her role as artistic adviser at large to the Kennedy Center.
She praised David Rubenstein, whom Trump replaced as chair, saying his leadership is “just one of the many ways he has contributed to America’s cultural and historic heritage. He is the greatest patriot I know.”
Fleming also praised Deborah Rutter, whom the board fired Wednesday as president of the Kennedy Center, saying she “has been a tireless, creative leader, successfully expanding our National Center for the Arts in visionary ways.”
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Go here to read more and who the replacement directors are slated to be:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/stars-flee-kennedy-center-groups-after-trump-seizes-chair/
—Judy Kurtz contributed
Photo: Renee Fleming |
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