Nixon in China, the opera by John Adams with a libretto by Alice Goodman, returns to the Opéra Bastille from February 24 to March 20, 2026, in the staging by Valentina Carrasco. First performed in Houston in 1987, it is considered one of the most important operas of the late twentieth century and tells, through the hypnotic language of American minimalism, the historic visit of President Richard Nixon to Beijing in February 1972. An event that marked a decisive moment in Cold War diplomacy and that Adams transformed into a theatrical fresco of power, propaganda and intimacy. The score combines pulsating rhythmic repetitions with an orchestral writing rich in references and contrasts: echoes of big band jazz meet Wagnerian shadows, neoclassical fragments and sudden lyrical flashes. The opera unfolds in three acts. The first depicts the arrival of the American delegation in China and the encounter between two distant worlds. In the second act, the audience follows Pat Nixon through a series of official visits, balancing personal nostalgia and immersion in revolutionary rhetoric, culminating in Madame Mao’s aria, one of the most virtuosic moments of the work. The third act abandons grandeur and turns to intimacy, closing on a more reflective and melancholic tone, with the protagonists, from Nixon to Mao, questioning the meaning of their lives and the legacy of their actions. Carrasco’s direction, first acclaimed in 2023, stands out for its poetic and incisive approach, underlining authoritarian languages without losing sight of the humanity of the characters. In this new revival, the Paris Opera confirms the centrality of a title that has become part of its repertoire and that continues to resonate for its ability to fuse political chronicle, historical reflection and musical innovation. Nixon in China thus asserts itself as a modern opera which, more than forty years after its creation, still questions the present through the lens of the past.
