Vancouver Opera announces new details about the Nixon in China Community Engagement Series, a major program of events surrounding the Canadian premiere of John Adams’s modern masterpiece. VO has partnered with several groups to create this series that explores the historic 1972 meeting between Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong, the opera it inspired and the establishment of the Chinese community in Vancouver.

On Wednesday, March 17th, Margaret MacMillan, author of The Uses and Abuses of History and Nixon in China: The Week that Changed the World will talk with CBC’s World at Six host Alison Smith at a public event presented with the Vancouver International Writers Festival.

Alison Smith is a well regarded senior correspondent and news anchor with CBC News who has covered a wide range of stories, including federal and provincial elections, the first Gulf War, the deaths of Pope John Paul II and Princess Diana and the Olympics in Atlanta, Athens and currently Vancouver. For four years before joining The World At Six, she was the Washington Correspondent for CBC Television. She spent four years travelling through the U.S. covering the election of President Barack Obama. (Alison Smith replaces Eleanor Wachtel, who is unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict.)

Other highlights of the Nixon in China Community Engagement Series include a Literary Lunch with Margaret MacMillan and Alexandre Trudeau, as well as a special Opera Speaks @ VPL event, “Chinese Vancouver Then & Now: 1972 – 2010”, with architect Bing Thom, UBC historian Henry Yu and filmmaker Colleen Leung.

At the invitation of the US Consul General in Vancouver and Vancouver Opera, former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte, whose early career included working at the National Security Council with Henry Kissinger in the early 1970s, will visit Vancouver to attend private functions and the Canadian premiere of Nixon in China.


Community Engagement Series Details

Inside the Music of John Adams
Tuesday, March 2nd 7:00pm
Vancouver Academy of Music
1270 Chestnut Street, Vancouver
Free Admission

An exploration of the music and career of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams. Presenters include writer and educator Thomas May, editor of The John Adams Reader, conductor John DeMain, who conducted the original 1987 production of Nixon in China, and Vancouver composer/conductor Owen Underhill.

Opera Speaks @ VPL - Chinese Vancouver Then & Now: 1972-2010
Tuesday, March 9th 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Vancouver Public Library – Central Branch
Alice MacKay Room
Free Admission – seating is limited

Explore the history of the Chinese in Vancouver, with emphasis on the Chinese communities' emergence and development since 1972, the year of Nixon's momentous trip to China. Discover how our city has been shaped and transformed by Chinese culture over the past 38 years. Moderated by UBC historian Henry Yu. Speakers include eminent architect Bing Thom and filmmaker Colleen Leung.

Presented in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library.
Opera Speaks @ VPL is sponsored by Omni BC Diversity Television.

In China: Comparing the Nixon, Trudeau and Harper Visits
Friday, March 12th 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Choi Building Conference Room, 1855 West Mall, UBC
Free Admission

A panel discussion exploring the past and future of Canada-China Relations, which closes a two-day colloquium hosted by the Institute of Asian Research. For more information see www.iar.ubc.ca.

Presented in partnership with the Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia.

Literary Lunch with Margaret MacMillan and Alexandre Trudeau
Tuesday, March 16th 12:30pm – 2:30pm
Seasons at Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver
Tickets: $50 through the VO Box Office: 604-683-0222.

An intimate encounter with acclaimed Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan and journalist and filmmaker Alexandre Trudeau (son of Pierre Ellliott Trudeau) as they take us behind the headlines of history. Hosted by Hal Wake, Artistic Director of Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival.

Presented in partnership with Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival.

Margaret MacMillan in conversation with CBC’s Alison Smith
Wednesday, March 17th 7:30pm
Granville Island Stage
Tickets: $18 through VancouverTix: 604-629-8849. www.vancouvertix.com

Margaret MacMillan talks with CBC’s World at Six host Alison Smith about her most recent book The Uses and Abuses of History and her earlier chronicle Nixon in China: The Week that Changed the World.

Presented in partnership with Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival.