Tomás Marco, in El Mundo, and Jorge Fernández Guerra, in El País, praise the Madrid premiere of “Nixon en China”, the first opera by John Adams.
Spanish music critics praise the Madrid premiere of Nixon in China, the first opera by American composer John Adams, which took place on Monday 17 April. In his column in El Mundo, composer Tomás Marco, noted “Nixon in China is an excellent opera. The staging for the Real by John Fulljames […], is effective and even brilliant, aided by the scenery and costumes of Dick Bird and the choreography of John Ross. It works well and is complemented by the excellent musical part”. Further on, the former pupil of Pierre Boulez, György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Bruno Maderna, and director between 1985 and 1995 of the Centro para la Difusión de la Música Contemporánea, also pointed out that the high interpretative quality “is due to the fact that the principal ensembles of the Real, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid and the Coro so magnificently prepared by Andrés Máspero, are at a high level and that Olivia Lee-Gundermann’s musical direction is competent and brilliant […]. The voices are very well chosen and if Leigh Melrose (Nixon), Alfred Kim (Mao), Sarah Tynan (Pat) and Audrey Luna (Mme. Mao) shine in their roles, Borja Quiza (Kissinger) and Jacques Imbrailo (Chu En Lai) do no less. So, if the music is interesting, the staging is right and the musical works, the miracle of opera happens and a new and far from short show becomes a magnificent artistic event. This was the case, and I believe that the premiere of the work in Spain was necessary, and it has had an exemplary staging, constituting a success”.
For his part, in El País, the critic and opera composer Jorge Fernández Guerra states that “it deserves infinite gratitude that John Fulljames, stage director, opts for a journalistic opera, something halfway between the apotheosis of the documentary and the Hollywood biopic. And this is no small thing; Adams’ music is as reminiscent of that reality as Alice Goodman’s miraculous libretto. Suddenly, Nixon in China appears as a well-localised opera, where nothing is out of place. All this is independent of personal tastes or assessments, above all, of musical aesthetics. That Adams achieved a production of such value from such a disparate proposal, both in form and content, has contributed to making him the undisputed figure he is today”.
35 years ago, moreover, the first recording of Nixon in China was released on the Nonesuch label, with a performance by the New York Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL), conducted by the Dutchman Edo de Waart, with James Maddalena as Richard Nixon.
The next performances of the opera will take place on Friday the 21st, Monday the 24th, Wednesday the 26th, Friday the 28th, Sunday the 30th and Tuesday the 2nd of May, every day at 19:30, except Sunday, when the performance will take place at 18:00.