Nixon in China

Former President Richard Nixon's visit to The People's Republic of China in 1972 is the basis for Nixon in China, John Adams' opera in three acts. With original stage production by Peter Sellars and choreography by Mark Morris, the opera premiered in 1987 to critical acclaim.

Adams states "Nixon’s 1972 trip was in fact an epochal event, one whose magnitude is hard to imagine from our present perspective, and it was perfect for Peter Sellars’s dramatic imagination. Nixon in China was for the sure the first opera ever to use a staged "media event" as the basis for its dramatic structure. He understood brilliantly how dictatorships on the right and on the left throughout the century had carefully managed public opinion through a form of public theater and the cultivation of "persona" in the political arena. Both Nixon and Mao were adept manipulators of public opinion, and the second scene of Act I, the famous meeting between Mao and Nixon, brings these two complex figures together face to face in a dialogue that oscillates between philosophical sparring and political one-upsmanship."

Music from this groundbreaking opera will be played at Symphony Hall November 12 - 14 by The Phoenix Symphony, led by Michael Christie, with five of America's top vocalists portraying pivotal characters in full costume.

This will be a multi-media event with an onstage video component showing images relating to former President Nixon’s visit. Images from the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC and the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda, California have been compiled to serve as a virtual ‘set’ as well as a visual reflection for each vocalist showing experiences or thoughts the characters are having during their various arias.

Visit John Adams' website to learn more about the opera itself and then purchase your tickets for the Symphony's concerts!