Adelaide Festival. Adelaide Town Hall. 12 Mar 2026
El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered is a condensed version of El Niño, the Christmas oratorio–cum–chamber opera by John Adams with a libretto compiled by Peter Sellars. Sellars’ text draws on a wide range of sources about the birth of Christ, including the New Testament, the Apocryphal Gospels, Latin American poetry and other literary reflections on the Nativity. The composition places particular emphasis on Mary and on the experiences of women surrounding the birth narrative.
The original El Niño, premiered in 2000, featured in the 2002 Adelaide Festival, and runs for a little over two hours and calls for large orchestral and choral forces. Tonight’s “reconsidered” version—conceived by the celebrated soprano Julia Bullock following discussion with Adams and Sellars—is approximately forty-five minutes shorter. The reasons for the abridgement are practical as much as artistic. Adams’ full score calls for significant musical resources, making it an expensive undertaking, especially for a single performance in a festival! A shorter version, using smaller forces, is easier to mount and perhaps more approachable for audiences unfamiliar with Adams’ distinctive musical language. For presenters of oratories at Christmas time, a seasonal staple such as Handel’sMessiah is likely a safer option than Adams’ more contemporary consideration of the Nativity.
This reviewer counts himself among the admirers of Adams’ music, particularly his operas such as Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, and Doctor Atomic. Inevitably, the shortened Nativity Reconsidered sacrifices some of the narrative breadth and dramatic pacing of the original, and the storytelling feels less persuasive as a result. Nevertheless, the composition retains much of the emotional power and sonic appeal of Adams’ score, and introduces this remarkable work to a wider audience, which is only a good thing.
Adams’ music in El Niño combines minimalist techniques with which he is often associated and a far more opulent, almost late-Romantic orchestral palette. The rhythmic engine that drives much of his music is present here: pulsing figures, repeating patterns, and gently shifting harmonic fields that create a sense of continuous motion. Yet lyricism also pervades the score, and various ‘arias’ include long vocal lines unfolding over shimmering orchestral textures, and the music frequently blooms into radiant harmonic landscapes that seem to hover between contemplation and ecstatic affirmation.
The orchestration includes synthesiser and amplified guitar which gives the score a modern ‘feel’, and refined percussion and sweeping string writing add energy and depth. Understanding the architecture of the work—and especially the texts Sellars has chosen—deepens one’s appreciation considerably. Without this context, El Niño can still be enjoyed purely as music: an arresting succession of luminous choral passages, expressive solos, and compelling orchestral interludes. But the libretto repays closer attention. Sellars’ central idea was to retell the Nativity story from a female perspective, shifting the emotional and narrative focus from the traditional patriarchal viewpoint to the experiences of women.
To achieve this, Sellars juxtaposes biblical texts with modern poetry that resonates with the same themes. One of his most powerful choices replaces the biblical account of the Slaughter of the Innocents with a poem by the Mexican writer Rosario Castellanos describing the 1968 massacre of student protesters at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Mexico City. The event occurred only days before the 1968 Olympic Games, and the poem’s stark imagery transforms the ancient story into a chillingly contemporary reflection on violence against the innocent. In some ways it asserts that the Nativity narrative is timeless and still relevant. Sadly, current events happening elsewhere in our troubled world add weight to this.
El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered is scored for a reduced orchestra, four soloists and a small chorus drawn from the ranks of the Adelaide Chamber Singers. The solo quartet comprises Bullock, mezzo-soprano Margaret Plummer, countertenor Austin Haynes and baritone Simon Meadows. All four deliver performances of clarity and commitment, though Bullock and Plummer prove particularly compelling.
The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra performs under the assured direction of Christian Reif. Throughout the performance the orchestra provides a finely balanced accompaniment, maintaining Adams’ intricate rhythmic momentum while allowing the vocal lines to breathe. Yet there are moments when the orchestra emerges with thrilling force. The Magnificat is one such point: Reif unleashes the full weight of Adams’ orchestral writing, with pounding repeated chords and surging rhythmic figures that fill the acoustic space of the Adelaide Town Hall with electrifying energy. It is quintessential Adams—propulsive, dramatic, and utterly gripping.
The work concludes with a luminous setting of another poem by Castellanos, The Rescue of the World. Here Adams’ music softens into something almost otherworldly, and vocal lines float in time and space. As the final syllables dissolve into silence, the audience emerges from this contemplative sound world and responds with warm and heartfelt applause—even from those who may have approached Adams (and Sellars) with some scepticism.
Kym Clayton
When: 12 Mar
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
