[INTERVIEW] John Adams about NIXON IN CHINA

[Music] Nixon China was my first opera and it's kind of puzzling because I never did really like Opera I never went to the Opera and if it weren't for Peter Sellers asking me to do this I probably never would have started riding Opera I was attracted to this idea because first of all it was part of my life you know I was a college student when Richard Nixon was president and he tried to send me to Vietnam so I had I had very strong feelings about him and also what was important was the fact that uh mile on the one hand on the left and Nixon on the right represented the two philosophies of how people might live their lives you know the market economy Nixon the social welfare state Mao I'm often asked if Nixon and China is is relevant and uh yes it always every time there's a production of it something's going on politically in the world and of course right now in 2023 we're seeing a very grave situation uh between the United States and China suspicion balloons possible buying so of course there's a special friesel to this production here in Paris having Renee Fleming as Pat Nixon and Tom Hansen as the president it's sort of like a dream you know Renee is an immensely intelligent artist she read deeply about Pat Nixon took the role very seriously and her voice has this Clarity and she's able to project a warmth and emotion and a Simplicity and Tom uh you know Tom will be the the most handsome and athletic looking Nixon because Tom is such a what we say buff figure himself and he's familiar with my music he's sung a peace of mind set to Walt Whitman called the wound dresser many times and he has that sense of depth of emotion I first met Gustavo when he was about 20 years old I met him in Caracas he was not known at that point but Simon Rattle had told me about him and gustavo's conducted many pieces of mine including several premieres and he's a wonderful conductor for my music he understands it rhythmically at emotionally we have a wonderful friendship this is for me this is traveling first class [Music] on this event which happened in the 1970s and when I composed it which was in the mid 1980s I'm struck by the fact that China was a very very poor essentially agricultural country and when Nixon went there it was unknown to Americans and when I realized what's happened to China it's now the world's second largest economy it's politically not a country I would want to live in but I am really amazed by what's happened and how much the Chinese people have have grown over this period so witnessing this Opera in this year 2023 and thinking back to 1987 when it was premiered it's it's quite a historical realization

Channel: Opéra national de Paris

Views: 3,399

Keywords: Nixon in China, Opéra, John Adams, interview, Opéra de Paris

Id: 2YvXt3tlFPo

Length: 4min 40sec (280 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 30 2023