Nixon in China, Opera Bastille, Paris: 22 March-16 April 2023

Nixon in China, by the American composer John Adams, is a key 20th-century work entering the Paris Opera's repertoire. The libretto, a political drama with humanist overtones, evokes Nixon's historic visit to meet Mao in 1972. Drawing on scholarly as well as repetitive music and American folklore, John Adams' score alternates between irony, melancholy and lyricism. Gustavo Dudamel conducts a cast led by Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming, in Valentina Carrasco's production evoking "ping pong diplomacy".

• Nixon in China

  Opera in three acts (1987)

  • Music:

    John Adams - (1947)

  • Libretto:

    Alice Goodman

  • Conductor:

    Gustavo Dudamel

  • Chorus master:

    Ching-Lien Wu

  • Director:

    Valentina Carrasco

  • Set design:

    Carles Berga

    Peter Van Praet

  • Costume design:

    Silvia Aymonino

  • Lighting design:

    Peter Van Praet

• Cast

  • Zhou Enlai:

    • Xiaomeng Zhang

  • Richard Nixon:

    • Thomas Hampson

  • Henry Kissinger:

    • Joshua Bloom

  • Nancy Tang:

    • Yajie Zhang

  • Mao Zedong:

    • John Matthew Myers

  • Pat Nixon:

    • Renée Fleming

  • Chiang Ch’ing:

    • Kathleen Kim