1,700 donors support Washington’s newly independent National Opera
Slipped Disc
June 30, 2026
The WNO has published the names of the first 50 friends who came to its aid when the company was forced to leave the Kennedy Center in its long-running saga of uncertainty.
Among the founding friends are Jamie Bernstein, Sarah Billinghurst, Peter Gelb and Ann Ziff, all with Met connections; Marin Alsop and Denyce Graves; Khori Dastoor of Houston Grand Opera; Matthew Shilvock of San Francisco Opera; Christopher Koelsch of LA Opera; and Robert Nelson and Van Broughton Ramsey of the Glimmerglass Festival; and Seattle Opera chairman John Nesholm.