El Niño

John Adams

El Niño

This production ran: Apr 23 - May 17

This Production is in the past

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Overview

Eminent American composer John Adams returns to the Met after a decade-long hiatus for the company premiere of his acclaimed opera-oratorio, which incorporates sacred and secular texts in English, Spanish, and Latin, from biblical times to the present day, in an extraordinarily dramatic retelling of the Nativity. El Niño brings together three of contemporary opera’s fiercest champions, all of whom make highly anticipated company debuts: Marin Alsop, one of the great conductors of our time, who has led more than 200 new-music premieres; soprano Julia Bullock, a leading voice on and off stage; and pathbreaking bass-baritone Davóne Tines. Radiant mezzo-sopranos J’Nai Bridges and Daniela Mack take turns completing the principal trio. The moving, fully-staged new production also marks the Met debut of Lileana Blain-Cruz, resident director at Lincoln Center Theater, who received universal acclaim for her Tony-nominated 2022 production of The Skin of Our Teeth.

Children’s Chorus: Young People’s Chorus of New York City (Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director and Founder; Emma H. Sway, Assistant Conductor)

Production a gift of C. Graham Berwind, III

El Niño is part of the Neubauer Family Foundation New Works Initiative

Languages

Languages sung in El Niño

Sung In

English

Titles

Title languages displayed for El Niño

Met Titles In

  • English

Timeline

Timeline for the show, El Niño

Estimated Run Time

2 hrs 30 mins

  • House Opens

  • Part I

    60 mins

  • Intermission

    30 mins

  • Part II

    60 mins

  • Opera Ends

Fire Shut Up In My Bones

World premiere: Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, 2000
Described by composer John Adams as his way of understanding what is meant by a miracle, El Niño is an opera-oratorio that brings the tradition of sacred works by composers like Bach and Handel into the modern era. The piece is built on 24 separate sections, with some emphasizing the parallels between biblical accounts of events in the Nativity narrative and contemporary events. We see that the Nativity story can recur, in some sense, when any woman gives birth, just as Mary and Joseph’s journey is echoed in every refugee family’s experience.

Creators

John Adams (b. 1947) is among the most celebrated composers active today. His catalog spans a number of genres, including opera, chamber music, large-scale orchestral works, and film scores. El Niño is the fourth of his works to be presented at the Met, following Doctor Atomic in 2008, Nixon in China in 2011, and The Death of Klinghoffer in 2014. Drawing upon a variety of sources, Adams created El Niño’s libretto with Peter Sellars (b. 1957), who also directed the premiere production.

Lileana Blain-Cruz

PRODUCTION

Lileana Blain-Cruz

Adam Rigg

SET DESIGNER

Adam Rigg

Montana Levi Blanco

COSTUME DESIGNER

Montana Levi Blanco

Yi Zhao

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Yi Zhao

Hannah Wasileski

PROJECTION DESIGNER

Hannah Wasileski

Mark Grey

SOUND DESIGNER

Mark Grey

James Ortiz

PUPPET DESIGNER

James Ortiz

Marjani Forté-Saunders

Choreographer

Marjani Forté-Saunders

Composer

John Adams

Setting

Fire Shut Up In My Bones

While the work is ostensibly set in and around Bethlehem and Egypt during biblical times, it can also be understood to play out in the eras and locales of the people recounting the Nativity story, from medieval England to 20th–century Latin America.

Videos

Music

The score epitomizes Adams’s distinct musical voice, marked by driving rhythms, rich orchestrations, and a sweeping melodic arc. The casting for the soloists is somewhat fluid, with more than one singer standing in for the same character or a single artist assuming multiple personae: The Soprano and the Mezzo-Soprano share the responsibility of portraying Mary, while the Baritone voices Herod, Joseph, and God, and the three Countertenors take on roles both individually and as an ensemble. The duties of a narrator are shared by all the voices, including the significant role for the chorus.

El Niño