The Metropolitan Opera's premiere production of John Adams's groundbreaking 1987 opera Nixon in China continues on Saturday afternoon, with the composer at the podium. Audiences both in and far outside of New York City will be able to watch the performance live in high-definition at their local movie theaters as part of the Met's Live in HD series, beginning at 1 PM ET. Encore screenings will take place on Wednesday, March 12, at 6:30 PM, in the United States, and Saturday, March 12, at 1:30 PM ET, in Canada. For more information, visit metopera.org.

The Met production has been received with much critical praise. The New Yorker says of this "modern classic" that "Not since Porgy and Bess has an American opera won such universal acclaim as Nixon in China." The AP describes the work as "perhaps the greatest American opera of the last quarter-century" and the Met production "a testament to its enduring power." The New York Times sees the premiere not as overdue but rather arriving "at just the right time to comprehend the continuing resonances of this audacious and moving opera." The Washington Post calls it "a Modern Masterpiece." Newsweek exclaims: "After all these years, this Nixon's return is most welcome."

You can watch an excerpt of Nixon's famed "News" aria, performed by James Maddalena, from the Met dress rehearsal, below. You'll find this and a number of other video excerpts, including Madame Mao's "I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung," sung by Kathleen Kim, on The Metropolitan Opera's YouTube page.
 

To coincide with the opera's Met premiere, Nonesuch Records recently reissued the Grammy-winning original cast recording of Nixon in China in a newly redesigned and specially-priced three-CD set, featuring a 68-page booklet with the complete libretto and new notes by Adams and Sellars, along with the original liner notes by librettist Alice Goodman and by the late Michael Steinberg, which the Los Angeles Times described as "a revelation." To pick up a copy, head to the Nonesuch Store now.