Cinci Opera’s Nixon in China grand in scope

By Burt Saidel

The image of President Nixon’s greatest foreign policy triumph, his visit to China in 1972, has faded. What was earthshaking, an American President meeting the enemy, the Red Chinese, began a new era.

Now, those revelations pale into obscurity. China is no longer an enigma nor an enemy. The Red Menace has become a major trading partner and international competitor. We are more concerned with the quality of Chinese food exports than their politics.

The political mystery has given way to a curiosity about those “great men” and their personal journey into political outer space. The mystery is diminished but not forgotten.

When Cincinnati Opera announced that John Adams’ 1987 opera Nixon in China would be part of the 2007 Summer Festival, the “buzz” was exciting.  Opera lovers were eagerly anticipating the opera without knowing why. The hidden “whys” included the music of John Adams as well as the appeal of the subject.

Adams, the composer, has always challenged his audiences. He was grouped, somewhat in error, with minimalist composers such as John Cage, Steve Reich and Phillip Glass. Their music reduced sounds into the simplest of formulae. Often the repetition became maddening and was avoided by many music lovers including yours truly.

Adams’ music seems to emerge from the relentless into more compelling combinations of sound. Yes, the repetitive lines are there, but more artful and persuasive. Musicologists have added the adjective “maximalist” to their description of Adams’ works.

Musical anticipation was only one of the factors causing the fervor. There is a magnetic appeal to see real characters on the opera stage. The fiery Carmen supplied that element in Bizet’s 1875 opera. Alas, Carmen’s tragic reality is now just opera. The shock value is gone. Somehow, having “Tricky Dickie” and the erudite Henry Kissinger singing on the opera stage has piqued curiosity and anticipation.

Suddenly, expectation gave way to reality. We were actually attending Nixon in China. Cincinnati Opera, under the artistic leadership of Evans Mirageas, is dedicated to presenting total opera, opera true to its potential. For Nixon in China, resources had to be assembled which would stretch any opera company to the breaking point. Cincinnati’s dedicated staff seemed to take the challenge in stride and the results were nothing short of spectacular.

The production was rich in detail and grand in scope. The huge orchestra and chorus had to play and sing some of the most difficult music imaginable. I was immersed in over three hours of Adams’ music and the excellence of the Cincinnati Symphony musicians under the baton of Estonian Kristjan Järvi. He is the brother of Cincinnati Symphony Maestro Paavo Järvi and “loved leading his brother’s band.”   My conclusion: Adams’ music is difficult to play and sing but so easy to listen to.

The composer pays homage to the great composers of the past with subtle quotes from Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner – and others which I probably missed. The orchestrations are rich and sonorous with no trace of irritating redundancy, hardly the hard edged music of his minimalist peers.

The stagecraft is so well conceived. Banks of television sets, 1970’s models, give vignettes of the actual events. That was the opera’s debt to history. What Adams and his librettist Alice Goodman did was to emphasize the personal sides of these modern legends. 

We saw them interact, warts and all, in making history. As we watched Nixon prance and gesticulate, we realized that he was “a statesman in spite of himself.”  Pat Nixon showed her sensitivity and her naiveté well mixed with clumsy charm. Poor Henry Kissinger – he almost became Macbeth’s poor fool but without the “sound and fury.”

Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-lai, the poet-philosopher and politician, was lost within his own shell of elitism. It was the earthy Chairman Mao, fat, clumsy. old, who added the primitive instincts of a revolutionary now caught in the prison of his own failing body and ephemeral dreams. His pure revolution was now compromised and soon to be lost.
Each role had voices and stage personae which gave life to their characters. Baritone Robert Orth literally became Richard Nixon. Tenor Mark Panuccio, in a fat suit and ungainly make-up, was a fading Chairman Mao whose strengths were grounded in his past. Bass-Baritone Thomas Hammons, always in great character roles, made his Kissinger throb with disdain for his farcical president. Soprano Maureen O’Flynn was ever-smiling Pat Nixon sympathetic and musically important.
The voice of the evening belonged to Georgia Jarman in the role of Chairman Mao’s young and powerful wife. Her natural beauty was well-hidden in her Mao jacket and stern looks. When she sang her great aria, or rather scene, the bravura coloratura “I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung,” the audience erupted into well-deserved applause and “bravas.”

Nixon in China was a triumph for Cincinnati Opera. It was lavishly performed to near perfection in spite of the difficult music and grand scale. Could I see and hear it again – not for a while. But, I am so grateful that I did!

Now Cincinnati turns to the grandest of operas – Aida. Four performances, July 25, 27, 29 and 31, will be, I promise, so much more than a parade of elephants. Cincinnati Opera’s dedication to realizing the potential of every opera will give us a great Aida full of the intense personal moments of the immortal characters.

DAI Twilight Concerts slated July & August

Each year during July and August the Dayton Art Institute
presents a series of Twilight Concerts featuring performances by local artists. This year’s schedule, now in progress, continues with its weekly Thursday performances and is as follows:

Thursday, July 19

Shelly Jagow and the Wright State University Saxophone Quartet

Thursday, July 26

Jim McCutcheon and Friends -- classical guitar and more

Thursday, August 9

David Wion and Friends -- the music of Broadway

Thursday, August 16

Dayton Area Harp Ensemble

Thursday, August 30

The Women of Musica -- vocal solos, duos, and trios

All Twilight Concerts are free and begin at 7 p.m. For more information call the Dayton Art Institute, 223-5277.

Rosewood arts classes announced

Rosewood Arts Centre is offering a variety of art and performance classes and day camps for children during the summer season. Upcoming classes include Beginning Dance for the Very Young-a combination of ballet, jazz and tumbling; Youth Jazz/Tap/Ballet Combo-for ages 6-9 including stretches, barre work and jazz dance to popular music; Exploring Pottery Skills-ages 12-16 will explore the wheel method of making pottery, fee includes clay, glazes and firing; and Summer Clay Workshop-ages 7-9 will design a tile plaque, sculpture and an animal using handbuilding methods.

Be sure to check out these upcoming camps: Dance Camp-ballet, jazz and modern dance for kids 5-6; Nature and Clay-ages 5-6 make sculptures using natural materials and clay; Mysteries of the Ocean-ages 6-8 explore the creatures of the sea through drawing painting and clay projects; Sculpture Sampler-ages 9-11 will make numerous clay projects using sculpture and handbuilding techniques; Artist Trading Cards-ages 9-11 experiment with many different mediums to make miniature works of art to collect and trade; and Drawing and Cartooning-ages 12-14 will enjoy learning to draw and making their own comic book.

Rosewood Arts Centre is located at 2655 Olson Drive in Kettering. Hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.   Summer season youth classes andcamps begin in June and fall season youth classes begin in September.

For more information, call (937) 296-0294 or go to www.ketteringoh.org. Rosewood Arts Centre programs are supported in part through a grant from the Ohio Arts Council and programmed through the Kettering Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department and the Kettering Arts Council.

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July 17, 2007
Volume 16, No. 29

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