Nixon in China - Schedule, Program & Tickets
Nixon in China
Opera in three acts
Libretto by Alice Goodman
First performed on October 22, 1987 at the Houston Grand Opera
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on June 22, 2024
recommended from 16 years
3 hours 30 minutes / One break
In English with German and English surtitles
Introduction: 45 minutes before the start of the performance in the foyer on the right
Two of the most powerful men in the world shake hands - and the world is watching: with their opera about the state visit of American President Richard Nixon to Mao Tse-tung in 1972, the composer John Adams and the librettist Alice Goodman brought contemporary history to the stage . They had in mind a »heroic opera« that tells of modern myths and the power of images. The convergence of the two systems was one of the most powerful media spectacles of the 20th century. Nixon himself equated the event with the moon landing in its historical significance. Like a satirically exaggerated TV documentary, the minimal music opera largely follows the protocol of the multi-day state visit and shows its larger-than-life protagonists between self-portrayal, the search for understanding and helplessness.
36 years after the premiere, the Deutsche Oper Berlin is bringing NIXON IN CHINA to Berlin for the first time in a new scenic production. Along with Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley, John Adams, one of the most-performed composers of our time, is one of the best-known representatives of Minimal Music, which emerged in the 1960s as an alternative to the European avant-garde. But even if Adams' probably best-known opera is considered a showpiece of this musical style, the work's hybridity eludes such narrow stylistic attributions. Colorfully orchestrated and in trance-like repetitions, the sound magician John Adams revives the big band sound of the swing era as well as the legacy of European classical music.
The music theater collective Hauen und Stechen around the founders and directors Julia Lwowski and Franziska Kronfoth is known for its performative directing style and its contemporary, cross-genre theater evenings. In their production of NIXON IN CHINA, they focus primarily on the propaganda aspect of the summit meeting, in which sensitive issues such as the Vietnam War or the tense relationship with Vietnam were deliberately left out. After their evening of Rossini's IL VIAGGIO A REIMS as part of the performance series AUS DEM HINTERHALT, the collective is now returning to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and, with NIXON IN CHINA, is putting on a production on the big stage for the first time.
Subject to change.
Libretto by Alice Goodman
First performed on October 22, 1987 at the Houston Grand Opera
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on June 22, 2024
recommended from 16 years
3 hours 30 minutes / One break
In English with German and English surtitles
Introduction: 45 minutes before the start of the performance in the foyer on the right
Two of the most powerful men in the world shake hands - and the world is watching: with their opera about the state visit of American President Richard Nixon to Mao Tse-tung in 1972, the composer John Adams and the librettist Alice Goodman brought contemporary history to the stage . They had in mind a »heroic opera« that tells of modern myths and the power of images. The convergence of the two systems was one of the most powerful media spectacles of the 20th century. Nixon himself equated the event with the moon landing in its historical significance. Like a satirically exaggerated TV documentary, the minimal music opera largely follows the protocol of the multi-day state visit and shows its larger-than-life protagonists between self-portrayal, the search for understanding and helplessness.
36 years after the premiere, the Deutsche Oper Berlin is bringing NIXON IN CHINA to Berlin for the first time in a new scenic production. Along with Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley, John Adams, one of the most-performed composers of our time, is one of the best-known representatives of Minimal Music, which emerged in the 1960s as an alternative to the European avant-garde. But even if Adams' probably best-known opera is considered a showpiece of this musical style, the work's hybridity eludes such narrow stylistic attributions. Colorfully orchestrated and in trance-like repetitions, the sound magician John Adams revives the big band sound of the swing era as well as the legacy of European classical music.
The music theater collective Hauen und Stechen around the founders and directors Julia Lwowski and Franziska Kronfoth is known for its performative directing style and its contemporary, cross-genre theater evenings. In their production of NIXON IN CHINA, they focus primarily on the propaganda aspect of the summit meeting, in which sensitive issues such as the Vietnam War or the tense relationship with Vietnam were deliberately left out. After their evening of Rossini's IL VIAGGIO A REIMS as part of the performance series AUS DEM HINTERHALT, the collective is now returning to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and, with NIXON IN CHINA, is putting on a production on the big stage for the first time.
Subject to change.
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