WNO Launches 'National' Membership Group

In a savvy and welcome stroke, the Washington National Opera has launched a “National Friends of the WNO” membership organization to capitalize on the groundswell of support, both financial and otherwise, it has garnered since leaving the Kennedy Center on January 9. Marc Scorca, recently retired president and CEO of  OPERA America, will helm the first (virtual) convening on July 14, and WNO has also managed to sign up some of the country’s highest-profile executive, artistic, and philanthropic leaders [see below] as inaugural members. The goal is to have representatives from all 50 states sign on.  

Positioned as a kind of national opera network, Friends, reports WNO, “will connect and inform supporters from around the world who have interest in maintaining cultural institutions in the nation’s capital.” Plans call for virtual and monthly podcast video interviews with WNO artists and other luminaries of the artform. Scorca will host the inaugural event, with WNO General Director Timothy O’Leary and Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. Clicking on WashNatOpera.org/National-Friends will prompt an invitation to the discussion and to membership, for which no contributions are required (but, of course, welcomed).

Since leaving the Kennedy Center, says WNO, “more than 1,700 donors from across the country have made contributions large and small,” thus enabling it to continue the 2025-26 season in alternate venues and to plan for seven productions in five different performance spaces for 2026-27. All this without the $20 million donor-restricted endowment funds it is still owed by the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center.

“We believe the National Friends will become a powerful force to galvanize supporters near and far who believe that our nation’s capital should benefit from a vibrant cultural life, enriched by an opera company of international standing,” said O’Leary. He adds that it is an "honor" to have Scorca, also a WNO trustee, as a leader. "There is no one who understands more deeply what it takes for an opera company to thrive, or who is more committed to the role of the arts in civic society.”