Last night was the opening night for Chicago Opera Theater’s run of Nixon in China. The house was packed and the performance was great. Unfortunately, the supertitles were not working last night–even with an opera sung in English it is helpful to have the supertitles. Otherwise, the performance went quite well. It is an extremely dense and complicated score, and it requires a huge amount of concentration to perform this music.
Nixon in China’s composer John Adams was at the event last night. At the opening night reception after the concert he gave a very nice speech to the ensemble and crew. The rest of the run is close to sold out, but there are probably some tickets left for most of the performances. Check out Chicago Opera Theater’s website for more information.
COT General Director Brian Dickie also maintains his own blog. It is a great site, and will give you more insight into what goes into putting together a production like this. Check it out here.
Bass News Right To Your Inbox!
Subscribe to get our weekly newsletter covering the double bass world.
I took a train from Fargo, North Dakota to see this opera. I thought that maybe I recognised you from somewhere. I sat in the second row directly in front of the basses. It was definitely worth the trip. How was playing for it? I love the part where the plane is landing and the basses come in.
Playing this opera was a ton of fun. I had a fantastic time, and I wish that the run could have gone on much longer. The bass part was simple on the page but challenging to count and always be 100% in the pocket. Glad you could make it!