On 21 February 1972, President Richard M. Nixon arrived in China for an official State Visit. He was the first U.S. president to visit the People’s Republic of China since it was established in 1949. The principal aim was to establish a new strategic framework built on peaceful relations with Beijing and stability in Asia. Meeting with Chairman Mao and Premier Chou En-lai, Nixon sought to relax Cold War Tensions with the Soviet Union, and find a solution to end the Vietnam War. In addition, both parties agreed to expand cultural contacts and the establishment for a permanent U.S. trade mission in China. Nixon called his visit “the week that changed the world,” and repercussions of this historic occasion continue to this day.

President Richard M. Nixon’s 1972 visit in China

It still took about a decade before director Peter Sellars conceived the idea of putting this historic visit onto the operatic stage. Sellars worked on the staging for the better part of 5 years, “attempting a stylised setup entirely based on classical Chinese opera. In that sense, although most of the staging is not realistic, audiences come away with the sense that they have seen something very real.”

John Adams: Nixon in China (Sanford Sylvan, baritone; James Maddalena, baritone; Thomas Hammons, bass; Mari Opatz, soprano; Stephanie Friedman, mezzo-soprano; Marion Dry, mezzo-soprano; John Duykers, tenor; Carolann Page, soprano; Trudy Ellen Craney, soprano; St. Luke’s Chorus; Orchestra of St. Luke’s; Edo de Waart, cond.)

John Adams: Nixon in China

With music by John Adams and a libretto by Alice Goodman, the opera “Nixon in China” premiered at the Houston Grand Opera on 22 October 1987. Based on a subtext highlighting the difference between Eastern and Western views, the opera contains very little action. Rather, it is divided into six tableaux in which the characters express their view of the world. This series of connected conversations and soliloquies is set to minimalist and eclectic music. It makes passing references to music ranging from Wagner and Gershwin to Philip Glass. 40 years later, Nixon in China still remains musically, dramatically and politically vibrant. In the final act, the six principal characters reflect upon the journey that has brought them together. Cast as a series of inner monologues and short dialogues, everybody reveals a kinder, gentler, and more vulnerable side of their nature. The opera concludes with Chou En-lai’s line “How much of what we did was good?” I suppose that question is still hotly debated today.

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