John Adams - Nixon in China - I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung - Kathleen Kim

[mariop1960]

Brava.

[powe2550]

One of the great arias written in our time. And powerfully sung. Thanks for posting!

[promptaet]

god give her a voice...

[nickbigd]

I am seeing Sumi Jo in this role in Paris in April. This performance will certainly be a tough act to follow. Ms. Kim is awesome.

[SeanMcHugh00]

The Met production is a fine example of how far humanity has sunk and lost it in the last quarter century.

[300musicmaster]

@SeanMcHugh00 do you mean it's a bad production or that the work itself reflects humanity today?

[SeanMcHugh00]

@300musicmaster The spirit of this extraordinary artistic achievement from Adams is in the modernist terms of the early second half of the 20th century, and perfectly conveyed by the Houston performance which you can see complete on Youtube- there are more of my thoughts there if you like. It's a work that particularly indicates the changing character of the times- and a recent interpretation like this was never going to work very well, rather like remakes of classic films.

[SicheZhang]

Communist, feminist, anarchism under Mao's rules, Nixon, Contemporary classical music influenced, real history.........

[teafico]

Kathleen Kim is absolutely terrifying in her role as Jiang Qing. Incredibly believable. I'm almost frightened and I know she's just an actress!

[kjteneyck]

One of the best arias ever sung. The staging is very poor however. The staging would be better, IMO, if it went from realistic to abstract, focusing ever tighter on Jiang Qing with the chorus becoming more and more formal over the course of the scene. All the jumping around just looks dumb and is very distracting.

[jpryan31]

I wasn't sure I would "buy" Kathleen Kim in the role...I'll always see her as Olympia from Hoffmann. But man. Terrifying.

[LeoSupimpa]

@jpryan31

Some may say this is a first recording impression, but I suppose Trudy Ellen Craney in 1987 did better (watch?v=kB-EXGJMKwE&feature=p­layer_detailpage#t=267s).

[LeoSupimpa]

@LeoSupimpa

* first listening impression

[Jigaboo123456]

Anyone remotely aware of Chinese history, and this utterly evil woman's role in the Cultural Revolution may disagree. It would require a purblind determination not to see in order to agree with the notion that it "is nothing to do with politics."

[mistax2k]

Cultural Revolution! JOY JOY JOY!

[porzt]

such rubbish - I can't believe people even consider it an opera, worse than a musical

[Jigaboo123456]

@porzt I accidently voted up your comment-- You are of cours eentitled to your opinion, but I think that this is a rather brillaint piece-- it portrays the arrogant, vicious ugliness of a very ugly character from a terrible time in China's history when people were ruled by terror - the inevitable end-game of Marxism.

It may not be uplifting- depressing in fact, but if people leave appreciating how freedom is so easlily lost, then good job!

[Laeliapurpurata]

@Jigaboo123456 This is only an opera... with 6 interesting characters, it has nothing to do with politics, it's only a setting...

[Laeliapurpurata]

@porzt It is not "considered"... it IS an opera, and a great one at that.

[fizzypopism]

So badass. I mean, those lyrics are hardcore.

[Drelnis]

Thanks so much for posting :) Can we have the previous scene as well? Starting from "It seems so strange to take revenge... that is your queue", it would be great :)

[DGatsby]

Great performance! John Adam's work is also so great.

[gratecourt]

Fabulous, electrifying.