The world has definitely changed since President Nixon visited China in 1972. We could write a thesis paper on the amount of change our world has seen from politics to entertainment, but we thought in the interest of time and our attention spans we’d just narrow it down to the Top Five Ways the World has Changed Since Nixon Visited China.

Nearly five years ago, I made the difficult choice to leave behind my then 15 years of training and experience as a solo pianist, and embark on a master’s degree in Collaborative Piano. Little did I know then that the huge amount of work, responsibility, and study that degree and my subsequent apprenticeships demanded would culminate in my current profession as a coach/accompanist here at San Francisco Opera.  In searching for the skill set that would make me an ideal candidate for an Adler position here (I must confess here that coming here to SFO was a longtime dream of mine), I was lucky enough to get my hands dirty in the rehearsal rooms, orchestra libraries, coaching studios, and orchestra pits of Virginia Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Washington National Opera, doing my best to learn as much as I could experientially about every cog in this Rube Goldberg machine we call opera!

We came across the orginal banquet menu from Nixon's visit to China on the National Archives site. It seems pretty standard fare, except for the Shark Fin soup, yikes! The New York Times ran an interesting article back 2011 on the menu when The Met recreated the dinner for their patrons, you can check it out here.

An intriguing invitation was posted in this Tweet by SF Opera on May 29, 2012:“Are you an #opera curious power Tweeter? Apply for a Tweet Seat at dress rehearsal of Nixon in China, June 5, 2pm pls RT” When I read the tweet, I had already purchased my ticket to see Nixon in China on opening night. This unexpected invitation inspired me to see if I could use my iPad to capture my experience of Nixon in China and share my impressions with the SF Opera community and the Twitterverse.

“What do you mean when we spin Nixon on the banquet table?” My head cocked to one side the way my dog Earl’s does when I ask him to do something new.

For at least seven rehearsal meetings my “Supers” table partner and I had been practicing the choreographed banquet scene for Nixon in China. The table is at least five feet in diameter.