See Musical Take on Recent History in 'Nixon in China' Met HD Opera

Related Media

Portraying Richard and Pat Nixon, James Maddalena and Janis Kelly descend from Air Force One in the first scene of John Adams’s opera “Nixon in China.”

POTSDAM, NY (01/20/2011)(readMedia)-- Opera and politics go well together, whether it's through the machinations behind a love triangle or the royal intrigue that often drives plots. But rarely has modern politics been portrayed so deftly in song as in John Adams's 1987 opera, "Nixon in China."

The landmark minimalist opera will make its Metropolitan Opera premiere under the composer's baton in a production by acclaimed director Peter Sellars. You can watch the work come alive from the New York City stage through the latest screening from The Met: Live in HD.

"Nixon in China" will screen live at Potsdam's Roxy Theater at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12, with an encore at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 20. The running time is approximately four hours, with two intermissions. It is performed in English.

Created by Sellars for the English National Opera, this version of "Nixon in China" is based on the original Houston Grand Opera production. "Nixon in China," with a libretto by Alice Goodman, explores President Nixon's 1972 encounter with Mao Tse-tung and Communist China.

Adams's work, says Sellars, "shows you what opera can do to history, which is to deepen it and move into its more subtle, nuanced and mysterious corners."

James Maddalena, who sang the role of Richard Nixon at the world premiere, reprises his interpretation, opposite Janis Kelly as Pat Nixon and Robert Brubaker as Mao Tse-tung. Kathleen Kim is Mao's wife Chiang Ch'ing and Russell Braun portrays Chou En-lai. Richard Paul Fink is Henry Kissinger.

"All of my operas have dealt on deep psychological levels with our American mythology," said Adams, who will conduct the Met premiere of his most famous opera. "The meeting of Nixon and Mao is a mythological moment in world history, particularly American history."

The opera follows Richard and Pat Nixon's famous 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China, with their speeches at banquets and tour of the city of Peking, as well as their meeting with Mao Tse-tung. It also includes a Communist revolutionary ballet.

In the North Country, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music and J.S. Cinemas sponsor the 2010-11 season of The Met: Live in HD. Music-lovers and novices alike can watch the staging live from the Metropolitan stage in New York City, where high-definition cameras capture the action and the dramatic music is presented in surround sound, with English subtitles, through The Met: Live in HD.

The Metropolitan Opera's The Met: Live in HD series has won both Peabody and Emmy Awards, and sold more than 2.2 million tickets worldwide during the 2009-10 season. For the upcoming fifth season, The Met: Live in HD will expand to 1,500 theaters, and add Egypt, Portugal and Spain to its network of now 46 participating countries.

Ticket prices for the series are the lowest available in the nation: $18 for an adult, $15 for senior citizens, $12 for students and $9 for youth age 18 and under.

Tickets are available by calling the Community Performance Series Box Office at (315) 267-2277, or visiting the Roxy Theater or Northern Music & Video in downtown Potsdam or the CPS Box Office in the lobby of Sara M. Snell Music Theater. You can also reserve tickets online by visiting www.cpspotsdam.org.

For more information on the 2010-11 The Met: Live in HD season, visit the Metropolitan Opera website at www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx.

To learn more about The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

###

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution.

-www.potsdam.edu/crane-