The Making of El Niño - The Nativity

This documentary looks back at the making of John Adams’ El Niño, created on the eve of the new millennium and already recognised as one of the composer’s defining works. Drawing on the Paris world-premiere production, it brings together John Adams, Peter Sellars, Kent Nagano and Dawn Upshaw to reflect on a "Nativity Oratorio" that reimagined a familiar story through modern poetry, movement and film. Alongside rehearsal footage and performance excerpts, the film captures the atmosphere of experimentation and conviction that surrounded El Niño’s creation – and the sense of a new work finding its voice in real time.