Nixon in China

American composer John Adams’s acclaimed Nixon in China–his first opera–premiered in 1987 to enthusiastic critical and audience response. Inspired by President and Mrs. Nixon’s historic 1972 trip to China and their meeting with Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, Nixon in China “thrives,” according to The New York Times. A recent presentation of the opera in Portland was noted by Opera News as “stunningly fine, one of the strongest productions in the company’s history.”