49th Kennedy Center Honors Names Five Lifetime Achievement Honorees: Paul Anka, David Foster, Andy Garcia, David Mamet and Barbara Mandrell
WASHINGTON — The Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on November 2 named the lifetime achievement honorees for the 49th Kennedy Center Honors: singer-songwriter Paul Anka, composer and producer David Foster, actor Andy Garcia, playwright David Mamet and country singer Barbara Mandrell. The honorees will be celebrated on December 7 at a gala ceremony held for the first time at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., rather than at the Kennedy Center's Opera House.
The Kennedy Center said this year's honorees were chosen based on the recommendation of its Special Honors Advisory Committee, whose members include former honorees, distinguished artists and members of the Board of Trustees, under the leadership of Chairman President Donald J. Trump. Founded in 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors has celebrated the lifetime contributions of influential artists in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures and television.
Paul Anka became a star at 15 when “Diana” went to No. 1 in 1957 and went on to write “My Way” for Frank Sinatra. David Foster has won 16 Grammy Awards, including three for Producer of the Year, and played a key role in launching the careers of Celine Dion, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Andy Garcia earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for The Godfather: Part III, and in 2026 premiered his film Diamond, which he wrote, directed and stars in, at the Cannes Film Festival.
David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose Glengarry Glen Ross won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama, and he has twice been nominated for an Academy Award. Barbara Mandrell, born in Houston, Texas, was a steel guitar prodigy by age eleven, was named the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year in 1980 and 1981, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
The move to Capital One Arena comes as the Kennedy Center's main building remains closed: the center announced a two-year closure for renovations earlier this year, and the shutdown and renaming dispute remain before a federal court. The center said it will transform the arena to capture the elegance and spirit of the Honors ceremony. Last year's 48th class of honorees was George Strait, KISS, Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor and Sylvester Stallone. (Source: The Kennedy Center)
Source: The Kennedy Center
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Photo: 图：位于华盛顿波托马克河畔的约翰·F·肯尼迪表演艺术中心主楼。AgnosticPreachersKid 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. By AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-11-0249th Kennedy Center Honors Names Five Lifetime Achievement Honorees: Paul Anka, David Foster, Andy Garcia, David Mamet and Barbara MandrellThis story
