In 1972, Richard Nixon visited Mao Zedong in China, marking the beginning of a rapprochement between the United States and China against the backdrop of the Cold War. Fifteen years later, American composer John Adams chose this episode as the subject of his first opera, a score marked by its rhythmic pulse, shimmering colours and intense lyricism.
The work entered the Paris Opera repertoire in 2023 in a production directed by Valentina Carrasco, who eschews realism in favour of the poetry of allegory and the magical, not without a touch of humour.
The common thread running through her dramaturgy is the metaphor of “ping‑pong diplomacy” – a reference to the first diplomatic overture through sport between China and the United States in 1971 – which combines with the metaphor of illusion to deliver spectacular images and a keen reflection on history and the vanity of power
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