2014–2015 SEASON NIXON IN CHINA Welcome to Nixon in China, the third main stage opera in our 50th Anniversary season! We have had an amazing kickoff to our season with unparalleled attendance for La bohème and Don Giovanni. We’ve gotten wonderful reviews, increased interest of new audiences, welcomed many of our old friends back into the fold and we have you, our wonderful audience, to thank. We are on a roll and couldn’t do it without you! Now, we present John Adams’ Nixon in China, an opera that pays musical MISSION witness to the historic goodwill meeting between President Richard Nixon STATEMENT and China’s Mao Tse-Tung. Whether you remember firsthand “the week The mission of San that changed the world” or this is your first experience with this piece of Diego Opera is to history, President Nixon’s trip was a critical turning point in the history of deliver exceptional the Cold War. At that time, it was compared with a landing on the moon, vocal performances something no one thought possible, and this epic visit truly changed and exciting, international relations and the world would never be the same. We hope accessible programs you enjoy this presentation. to diverse audiences, focusing on community th engagement and the Coming up next in April is our 50 Anniversary Celebration Concert with transformative power international stars singing the ‘biggest hits’ of opera and the new Mariachi of live performance. opera El Pasada Nunca Se Termina (The Past is Never Finished). VISION San Diego Opera is definitely the place to be so be sure to get your STATEMENT tickets soon so we can continue celebrating together! San Diego Opera will be recognized Thank you again for your wonderful support and we’ll see you soon! internationally as a leading example of adaptability, innovation and sustainability Carol Lazier in the operatic arts, President, San Diego Opera promoting diversified programming and unique performance venues with world-class and emerging talent. PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P1 2014-2015 BOARD OF DIRECTORS SAN DIEGO OPERA OFFICERS Carol Lazier Courtney Ann Coyle James A. Merritt Frances R. Marshall President Executive Vice Vice President, Finance Secretary/ President Parliamentarian MEMBERS AT LARGE Candace Robert B. David E. Sarah B. Anita Norton Thomas Carroll Horsman Kleinfeld Marsh-Rebelo Shiftan, M.D. Linda Spuck Joe Watkins DIRECTORS David Brenner, Teresa Nathan Kathryn John Ippolito Ann Irwin M.D. Fischlowitz Fletcher Hattox Robert H. Matthew Leivo Alex Lukianov Gloria Zandra Tony Thornley Kaplan, Ph.D. Rasmussen Rhodes Sandra Joy Lawhon (not pictured) P2 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 50 YEARS 1965-2015 LEADERSHIP 2014-2015 ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS SAN DIEGO OPERA Phyllis K. Harris Mr. Daniel J. Reed 233 A Street, Suite 500 Stacy Kellner Rosenberg Centre City Building Lester Stiel San Diego, CA 92101 Karen Valentino T: (619) 232-7636 Lori M. Walton F: (619) 231-6915 2014-2015 ADVISORY DIRECTORS E: [email protected] Richard R. Abello Mr. Lynn Kirkhofer Patron Services: (619) 533-7000 Dr. Robin Allgren, M.D. Mrs. Aline Koppel Web: sdopera.com Mrs. Bobbie Ball-Bradley Trudy Lemen Ms. Debbie Barkley Godiva Liu Ann S. Block Kathleen A. Loftman CONNECT WITH US Lieutenant Margaret L. Boyce Ms. Patricia A. Maxwell Dr. Dick Bridy Edward McGrath facebook.com/SanDiegoOpera Ms. Sarah Blakely Brown Mr. Ted McLaughlin twitter.com/SDOpera Joan Heller Brown Mrs. Julie Nydam Mr. Jim Carter Mrs. Diane W. Parks youtube.com/SanDiegoOpera Scott Crispell Ms. Sigrid Pate Billie Jean Culwell Mr. Peter Polgar ariaserious.blogspot.com Dr. Martha Dennis, Ph.D. Mr. Robert G. Radovich pinterest.com/SanDiegoOpera Mrs. Sharon Dennison Audrey Ratner Edie Drcar Mr. Donald A. Rau Instagram.com/sandiegoopera Dr. Jane Dyson Mim Sellgren John R. Engel Mr. William D. Smith Mrs. Mary Ellen Fleischli Carol Jean Spicer SHARE THE LOVE. Mr. John P. Ford Mrs. Susan Spoto Dr. Parviz Foroozan Christopher Stephens SPREAD THE WORD. Dr. Joyce Gattas Dr. Mary L. Strobbe #sdopera #nixon #trickydick Mr. Peter C. Gernold Mr. Robert P. Thibodeau Mrs. Joan Henkelmann Mrs. Tamara M. Thibodeau Hon. Herbert Hoffman (Ret.) Ms. Kathy Wellbrock Ms. Joanne C. Hutchinson Mr. Albert Williams Valentin Isacescu, M.D. Dr. Sara Zaknoen, M.D. Cover art by R. Black Dr. David S. Johnson Mrs. Sheila Johnson SAN DIEGO OPERA LEADERSHIP HISTORY PRESIDENTS HONORARY & LIFE DIRECTORS 1964-66 Mrs. Lionel U. Ridout+ 1990-92 Mr. Steven S. Wall Esther J. Burnham+ Maurice C. Kaplan+ 1966 Mrs. Glenn C. Erickson+ 1992-94 Lee Goldberg Margaret Ridout Conrad+ Miss Dorothy Kirsten+ + 1966-68 Mr. W. Allen Perry 1994-96 Mitchell L. Lathrop Mr. J. Ralph Corbett+ Mrs. Edgar A. Luce+ 1967-70 Robert B. Bottomley* 1996-98 M. Faye Wilson Mrs. Morley H. Golden+ Dr. Jan Popper+ + 1968-69 Mrs. Robert G. Thompson 1998-00 Harry F. Hixson, Jr. Joseph W. Hibben+ Iris Lynn Strauss + 1969-70 Mrs. Robert S. Fadem 2000-02 William R. Stensrud Harry F. Hixson, Jr. 1970-72 Miss Esther M. Benter+ 2002-05 Iris Lynn Strauss 1970-73 John Patrick Ford* 2005-07 Drew Senyei, MD GENERAL DIRECTORS 1972-74 Dr. Dwight E. Twist+ 2007-09 Robert Horsman 1973-74 Mrs. Lionel U. Ridout*+ 2009-11 David E. Kleinfeld 1965-75 Walter Herbert 1974-76 Mrs. Lionel U. Ridout+ 2011-13 Karen S. Cohn 1975-77 Kenneth K. Caswell (General Manager) 1976-78 Mr. Josiah L. Neeper+ 2013 Stacy Kellner Rosenberg Tito Capobianco (Artistic Director) 1978-81 Mr. Harold B. Williams 2013-14 Karen S. Cohn 1977-83 Tito Capobianco 1981-83 Mrs. Frank T. Weston 2014- Carol Lazier 1983-2014 Ian D. Campbell (General & Artistic Director, CEO) 1983-85 Mrs. Douglas K. Pay *San Diego Opera, Inc. Presidents 1985-87 Mr. William E. Nelson (merged with SDO Guild in 1974) + In memoriam 1987-90 Esther J. Burnham+ PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P3 ABOUT THE OPERA SAN DIEGO OPERA THE WEEK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD BY BERNARD KALB eijing, February 21, 1972. Our press plane For more than two decades, from the instant the landed in Beijing before the presidential jet hit Chinese Communists took over the mainland in 1949, the ground, and our immediate focus was on the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China had been B a handshake. Would President Nixon emerge, engaged in a frigid, at times tense standoff: no contact, arm thrust forward, ready to shake the hand of no trade, no diplomatic recognition. Indeed, the U.S. had Communist China’s Premier Chou En-lai at the bottom sought to isolate Communist China on the global stage. of the ramp? This would not be your ordinary how-do- Now, suddenly, the President—whom Mao’s rampaging you-do shake; rather, it might even be described as one Red Guards had portrayed as “a gangster” brandishing of the most important handshakes in postwar diplomatic “a blood-dripping butcher’s knife”—was in Beijing and history. It would compensate for the handshake that did was meeting with the Chairman himself—and in the not happen at the Geneva conference in 1954 when forbidden city. It was diplomacy at its most surreal— the U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles snubbed and guaranteed that the whole world would be tied to Chou, refusing to shake his hand. It was a snub to television sets, watching a new chapter unfold between remember, and the Chinese never forgot it. Now here two countries that, only 20 years earlier, were shooting was Nixon stepping out of the plane arm-first, hand at each other during the Korean War. Given the mix of jutting forward, to reach for the outstretched hand famous personalities and conflicting priorities, a comic of the Chinese premier. History had just happened. might describe the upcoming TV event as a kind of high- Nixon later quoted Chou as saying “that handshake stakes diplomatic sitcom; realpolitik analysts would see it was over the vastest distance in the world, 25 years as an event that had the potential of dialogue replacing of no communication...” Chinese sources later said it hostility as the way to ease global tension. was Nixon who made the comment. Either way, the ice Of course, Beijing, as host, was determined to finally began to melt. stage-manage the entire production, pre-program For anyone under a certain age—say, 50 or so—it everything on the calendar, so that China would be seen is impossible to imagine the impact of the surprise by hundreds of millions of global viewers as a Maoist announcement in 1971 that President Nixon would be triumph. In a bid to keep the journalistic invasion to going to China. Nixon to Red China? “Nixon”? He with a minimum and thereby control the visiting press, the a reputation as a relentless red-baiter—he would be Chinese at first said, “we’ll allow twelve people”—more visiting the boiling cauldron of Chinese Communism? press than usual, they stated. Big problem, though: two Americans and many of America’s allies were, to thousand applications had been submitted from U.S. TV understate reality, stunned; Moscow, Hanoi and I, a and radio, magazines, newspapers. Lots of negotiations mere reporter, even more so. “The news hit us like a later, the number escalated to some 80 journalists who bolt from the blue,” a Kremlin insider later admitted. would accompany the President, plus visas for technical “America will be China’s ally.” North Vietnam, then crews and their TV ground stations. The White House, at war with the United States, felt betrayed by its big eager to show Nixon as a world statesman and hardly neighbor to the north. But with a Nixon visit, China, unaware that 1972 was a presidential election year, had given the tensions within the Sino-Soviet world and pushed for maximum television coverage so that Nixon always wary of its Communist colleagues, could now “live” could be flashed to the U.S.