The Washington National Opera decided on Friday to move its performances out of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, abandoning the hall where it has played since 1971 in perhaps the la...

The Washington National Opera has decided to end its arrangement with the Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital, though it says it is hoping for an “amicable transition.”

The opera company is seeking to sever its ties with the Kennedy Center after a tumultuous year in which both groups have faced cancellations by artists, empty seats and the retrenchment of donors prot...