© Everett Collection/Bridgeman Images

2023 / AROP evening / Opera
25 Mar.

Nixon in China

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Première

    Opéra Bastille

    19h30

    Duration
    3h10

    Dress Cocktail attire

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  • 1st part
    19h30
  • Intermission cocktail
    20h35
  • 2nd part
    21h05
  • End of the performance
    22h30

In February 1972, the American president Richard Nixon went to China to meet Mao Zedong. In the context of the war in Vietnam and the cold war, this encounter marked a turning point in Chinese‑ American relations. John Adams, a major musical figure of the last forty years, made this event of contemporary history the subject of his first opera. Nixon in China tackles the political thaw instigated by ping-pong diplomacy, begun by the invitation of the American table tennis players by their Chinese counterparts, one year before the presidential visit. A mesmerising work in which the pulsations and repetitions typical of minimalism are combined with melodic lines of great lyricism. For its entry into the Paris Opera repertoire, this work has been entrusted to the director Valentina Carrasco, who underlines the importance and the mediating power of Chinese national sport in history: “Friendship first, competition later”. 

Nixon in China

Nixon in China - Valentina Carrasco

  • Music

    John Adams
    (1947)

  • Conductor
    Gustavo Dudamel
  • Chorus master
    Ching-Lien Wu

  • Libretto

    Alice Goodman

  • Director

    Valentina Carrasco

  • Set design

    Carles Berga

  • Set design

    Peter Van Praet

  • Lighting design

    Peter Van Praet

  • Costume design

    Silvia Aymonino

  • Sound creation

    Mark Grey

Cast

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Thomas
Hampson

Richard Nixon

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Renée
Fleming

Pat Nixon

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Xiaomeng
Zhang

Chou En-Lai

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John Matthew
Myers

Mao Tse-Tung

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Joshua
Bloom

Henry Kissinger

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Kathleen
Kim

Chiang Ch’ing

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Yajie
Zhang

Nancy T'ang (1st secretary to Mao)

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Ning
Liang

Second Secretary to Mao

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Emanuela
Pascu

Third Secretary to Mao

Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra national de Paris

Nixon in China fait l’objet d’une captation, réalisée par François-René Martin, coproduite par l’Opéra national de Paris et Camera Lucida, avec la participation de Mezzo et Medici.tv, le soutien du CNC et de la Fondation Orange, mécène des retransmissions audiovisuelles de l’Opéra national de Paris. Il est retransmis en direct le 7 avril 2023 sur la plateforme de l’Opéra national de Paris et en différé sur Mezzo et Medici.tv à compter du 14 avril 2023. Ce concert est proposé en son immersif.

Nixon in China sera diffusé le samedi 29 avril 2023 sur France Musique à 20h dans l’émission «  Samedi à l’Opéra  », présentée par Judith Chaine.