The Kennedy Center will host a world premiere symphonic concert adaptation of Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer-winning rock opera Rent July 26-28 in the D.C. venue's concert hall. Presented by National Symphony Orchestra with Steven Reineke conducting, the concerts will be directed by Sammi Cannold. Casting and further creative team will be announced.

The new symphonic orchestration, expanded from Steve Skinner's original five-piece arrangement, has been penned by Sean O'Loughlin.

Directed by Michael Greif, Rent opened at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre April 29, 1996, following previews that began April 16. The musical received 10 1996 Tony nominations, subsequently winning four, including Best Musical. Larson's work also won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. After 16 previews and 5,123 regular performances, the production played its final show September 7, 2008.

Set in Manhattan in the 1990s and inspired by Puccini’s opera La Bohème, the hit musical follows a group of young East Village artists, performers, and philosophers as they struggle through the hardships of poverty, societal discord, and the AIDS epidemic in the search for life, love, and art.

This production of Rent is licensed by Music Theatre International.