Nixon in China

Nixon in China is an opera by John Adams, presented by Washington National Opera at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

The opera by John Adams dramatizes the 1972 visit of U.S. President Richard Nixon to the People's Republic of China and his meetings with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. Its subject is a historic diplomatic summit, presented on stage as a sung drama rather than as a documentary account.

The production is staged by Washington National Opera and performed at DAR Constitution Hall, a venue in Washington that hosts concerts and shows. The work is a contemporary opera, written in the late 1980s, so it suits listeners who want to hear a modern score built around a recent historical event.

The piece is aimed at opera audiences and at anyone interested in late twentieth-century American and Chinese diplomacy. Its political subject matter makes it a drama for adult listeners.