This November, Thomas Hampson returns to Washington National Opera to sing the title role of John Adams’s landmark opera Nixon in China, presented in a major new staging at DAR Constitution Hall.

The engagement marks a continuation of Hampson’s acclaimed interpretation of Richard Nixon, following his performances in concert this past summer at Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival, as well as appearances in Boston and New York with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Hampson reunites with soprano Renée Fleming as First Lady Pat Nixon, renewing one of classical music’s most celebrated artistic partnerships. Conductor Robert Spano leads the Washington National Opera Orchestra and Chorus in a reimagined multimedia staging directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer. The production features rare archival footage curated by projection designer Bill Morrison and sets by Alexander V. Nichols, deepening the opera’s tension between historical fact and media memory. Soprano Kathleen Kim stars as the formidable Madame Mao (Chiang Ch’ing), with choreography by Jessica Lang.

Nixon in China runs for three performances only on November 14, 19, and 21 at DAR Constitution Hall.

On Sunday, November 22, Hampson and Fleming return to the DAR Constitution Hall stage for We the People, an expansive gala concert celebrating freedom as a universal human right. Curated to explore the global struggle for dignity, liberation, and civic consciousness through opera’s greatest choral and solo masterworks, the evening also features Jonathan Tetelman and Amber R. Monroe, alongside the Washington National Opera Orchestra.