Anyone familiar with the Brooklyn Academy
of Music over the past two decades knows how integral the stage
works of composer John Adams have been in making the name BAM
synonymous with the musical and theatrical cutting edge.
The Massachusetts-born Adams made his name as a minimalist –
a misnomer because his musical palette has always been far more
wide-ranging than someone like Philip Glass – and composed two
topical operas, "Nixon in China" (1987) and "The
Death of Klinghoffer" (1991) that had their local premieres
at BAM and went on to worldwide acclaim.
Adams’ music has always found its way back to Brooklyn, including
acclaimed concert performances of "Nixon" by the Brooklyn
Philharmonic a few seasons back. Now comes the New York premiere
of his latest stage work, the oratorio "El Nino," touching
down for two performances at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House
(March 20 and March 22).
"El Nino" is a co-presentation of BAM and Lincoln Center’s
Great Performers series, which will unveil a special spring festival
dedicated to Adams’ imposing body of work. "John Adams:
An American Master" (March 20-May 17) – featuring a world
premiere, New York premieres and collaborations with the New
York City Ballet and the Juilliard School, along with BAM – marks
the first time Lincoln Center has honored a living composer.
You could call "El Nino" somewhat of a departure for
the 56-year-old Adams, except that every new work of his could
be labeled as such. His most recent large-scale work, "On
the Transmigration of Souls," a brooding, emotional 20-minute
tone poem that responded to the events of Sept. 11, was commissioned
and played by the New York Philharmonic last fall.
"El Nino" is based on various Nativity texts, which
Adams compiled with stage director Peter Sellars, who also directs
"El Nino’s" interweaving of solo singers, dancers,
a chorus and a film.
Viewing the Arthaus Musik DVD of the world premiere of "El
Nino," one is struck by the visual clarity of Sellars’ conception
of this very unique Nativity setting: the placement of the singers
and dancers onstage, along with the work’s multimedia aspects,
are strikingly appropriate correlatives to Adams’ shimmering
music.
Rather than a standard story of the Nativity, Adams and Sellars
– through their wide-ranging texts that include, along with the
King James Bible, Latin and Spanish verse, mystery plays, and
old English stories – intend to follow the eponymous weather
system’s cycle of recurrence. The birth of Jesus Christ is here
seen as an ongoing miracle, both within each succeeding generation
(every newborn child is touched with the divine) and outside
it (the story of the birth of the Christ child is constantly
reenacted by each group of descendants).
It comes as no surprise that Sellars and Adams have worked closely
before: "Nixon" and "Klinghoffer" (both of
which had librettos by poet Alice Goodman) were originally staged
by Sellars in so singular a fashion that it’s become difficult
to conceive of either opera being done in any other way.
In addition to Sellars, other long-time Adams collaborators are
reunited with the composer for "El Nino." The cast
of soloists includes soprano Dawn Upshaw, mezzo-soprano Lorraine
Hunt Lieberson – currently wowing audiences as Dido in the Metropolitan
Opera’s production of Hector Berlioz’s epic "Les Troyens"
– and baritone Willard White. The vocal ensemble Theatre of Voices
takes the substantial choral parts.
And leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic is conductor Esa-Pekka
Salonen, long a champion of Adams’ music.
But, as always when it comes to Adams’ music, it all begins at
BAM with "El Nino."
"El Nino," by John Adams, will be performed at the
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland Place
in Fort Greene, on March 20 and March 22 at 7:30 pm. Tickets
are $85, $65 and $35. Call (718) 636-4100 for more information.
