As its name indicates, this unique opera recounts the 1972 voyage of President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon to China, a watershed moment in East-West diplomacy: Nixon was, at the height of the Cold War, the first American president to visit China, and the media's breathless coverage of the event, broadcast on TV to millions of homes, added to its symbolic import. And Adams's opera, written 15 years later in 1987, helped solidify the way it was remembered in American culture. Less widely known in Europe than in America (for now!), the opera makes its blockbuster entrance in the Paris Opera's repertoire with a dream cast, including superstars Fleming and Hampson as Pat and Richard Nixon—not to mention the excellent John Matthew Myers as Chairman Mao (a role he has already played to acclaim) and Xiaomeng Zhang as Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. With Dudamel at the podium and the gloriously imaginative Valentina Carrasco in charge of stage direction, this striking production goes a long way toward elevating this work to its rightful place in the worldwide canon of modern classics.
Photo © Elisa Haberer
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