{"id":502768,"date":"2026-01-09T02:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/502768\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:54:18","slug":"singer-sonia-de-los-santos-cancels-kennedy-center-concerts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/502768\/","title":{"rendered":"Singer Sonia De Los Santos cancels Kennedy Center concerts"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Sonia De Los Santos<\/a> is the latest performer to cancel an appearance at the Kennedy Center<\/a> in Washington. She had been scheduled to give two concerts for young people on Feb. 7, followed by a \u201ccreative conversation\u201d with the audience. <\/p>\n

De Los Santos, a Mexican American whose 2018 release \u201c\u00a1Alegr\u00eda!\u201d received a Latin Grammy nomination for best children\u2019s album, cited her background as a reason for calling off the shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an artist, I treasure the freedom to create and share my music, and for many years I have used this privilege to uplift the stories of immigrants in this country,\u201d she wrote Thursday on Instagram. \u201cUnfortunately, I do not feel that the current climate at this beloved venue represents a welcoming space for myself, my band, or our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an email to The Associated Press, De Los Santos shared her Instagram statement and said she would have no additional comment. Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi challenged De Los Santos\u2019 citing of immigration policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country was built on legal immigrants and as a first generation American, I find her statement highly offensive,\u201d Daravi wrote in an email. \u201cRefusing to engage with an institution open to everyone is, in fact, a step towards discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artists ranging from \u201cHamilton\u201d creator Lin-Manuel Miranda<\/a> to rock star Peter Wolf have called off events at the Kennedy Center since President Donald Trump<\/a> ousted the previous leadership early last year and arranged for himself to head the board of trustees. Trump has highlighted the Kennedy Center in his wide-ranging fight against what he calls \u201cwoke\u201d bias at cultural institutions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE – Workers add President Donald Trump\u2019s name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts after a Trump-appointed board voted to rename the institution, in Washington, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/p>\n

FILE – Workers add President Donald Trump\u2019s name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts after a Trump-appointed board voted to rename the institution, in Washington, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/p>\n

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The board\u2019s decision in December to rebrand the venue the Trump-Kennedy Center, a change that scholars say can only be enacted through Congress, led to a new wave of cancellations. Jazz musician Chuck Redd called off a planned Christmas Eve show, and the jazz group The Cookers withdrew from their New Year\u2019s Eve concerts.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Grammy-winning banjo player Bela Fleck announced that he had canceled three scheduled appearances next month with the National Symphony Orchestra, writing on social media that playing at the center had become \u201ccharged and political.\u201d Ric Grenell, a diplomat and Trump ally whom the president appointed to lead the center, wrote on X that Fleck had \u201cmade it political and caved to the woke mob.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other recent withdrawals include \u201cWicked\u201d composer Stephen Schwartz, who had been expected to host an opera gala in the spring, and the variety show Asian AF, whose shows in May were listed as canceled on the Kennedy Center website, then removed entirely. Daravi cited a \u201cscheduling conflict.\u201d A representative for Asian AF did not immediately responds to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Sonia De Los Santos is the latest performer to cancel an appearance…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":502769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[107792,435,1576,12785,84,168,69,171,57,20151,409,180861,92561,76154,181121,975,80,225479,225478,67,132,68,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-502768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bela-fleck","9":"tag-celebrity","10":"tag-classical-music","11":"tag-dc-wire","12":"tag-district-of-columbia","13":"tag-domestic-news","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-grammy-awards","18":"tag-immigration","19":"tag-latin-grammy-awards","20":"tag-latin-music","21":"tag-lin-manuel-miranda","22":"tag-local-news-for-apple","23":"tag-music","24":"tag-politics","25":"tag-ric-grenell","26":"tag-stephen-schwartz","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115862887851495540","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}