Composer Leonard Bernstein's children request his music be played in the Kennedy Center in 'rebuke' to Trump – Fox News

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A chorus of boos could be heard as Vice President JD Vance attended a concert at the Kennedy Center on Thursday. (Credit: Andrew Roth/The Guardian via Storyful)
The children of composer Leonard Bernstein — Nina Bernstein Simmons, Alexander Bernstein and Jamie Bernstein — made a case for their father’s music being performed at the Kennedy Center despite controversy over President Donald Trump’s takeover of the music and arts venue. 
„Since President Trump has asserted control over the center, making himself chairman and purging its board and administration in favor of his loyalists, a number of artists (though certainly not all) have severed ties with the institution in protest,“ Bernstein’s surviving children wrote in a guest essay for The New York Times. „Many friends and associates have urged us, the rights holders of our father’s music, to withdraw his works from a gala program on Saturday.“
Trump in January fired the theater’s board of directors and announced he had been elected board chair by his new handpicked board. Following the president’s announcement, some groups who oppose the Trump administration have decided to cancel shows at the center. 
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The children of composer Leonard Bernstein — Nina Bernstein Simmons, Alexander Bernstein and Jamie Bernstein — made a case for their father’s music being performed at the Kennedy Center. (Getty Images)
Responding to the controversy, the Bernstein children argued that their father would want his music to be played at the Kennedy Center.
„We asked ourselves: What would our dad do?“ the Bernstein children wrote. „In our hearts, we already knew the answer. He would let his music be heard. But we believe that we can make our own strong statement, in honor of our father, by letting people hear his music in that space, as an audible rebuke to Mr. Trump’s ugly policies. We plan to donate whatever proceeds we receive from upcoming Kennedy Center performances to the American Civil Liberties Union.“
They continued: „These days, battered and stung as so many of us feel by President Trump’s relentless assaults on civil rights and the Constitution itself, we can find comfort in our father’s music. His notes invoke the courage to be ourselves, to express ourselves — and to be what Americans have always aspired to be: free.“
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The Bernstein children wrote that one of the most significant ways they can oppose Trump is by „letting people hear his music in that space, as an audible rebuke to Mr. Trump’s ugly policies.“ (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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The Bernstein children wrote that one of the most significant ways they can oppose Trump is by „letting people hear his music in that space, as an audible rebuke to Mr. Trump’s ugly policies.“
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Fox News‘ Brie Stimson and Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 
Jeffrey Clark is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. He has previously served as a speechwriter for a cabinet secretary and as a Fulbright teacher in South Korea. Jeffrey graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019 with a degree in English and History. 
Story tips can be sent to jeffrey.clark@fox.com.
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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

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