Nixon in China

Contemporary opera at the cutting edge: When US President Richard Nixon lands on Chinese soil on a foggy February morning in 1972, the world holds its breath. After decades of silence, there is a rapprochement between the rival major powers. A great diplomatic moment and a superlative media event — cameras and microphones accompany Nixon and Mao Tse-tung at every turn. The American composer John Adams and librettist Alice Goodman have condensed original historical documents into a pop story about modern myths and spectacular visual politics. Like a satirically exaggerated TV documentary, the minimal music opera follows the minutes of the state visit and shows characters between larger-than-life self-presentation and excessive self-deception. The music theatre collective Hauen and Stechen, known for its anarchic directorial manuscript, focuses on the propagandistic aspect of the summit meeting in a frenzy of images and offers a furious insight into the power games of the 20th century.

Opera in three acts by John Adams Libretto by Alice Goodman Premiered on October 22, 1987 at the Houston Grand Opera Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on June 22, 2024