At the dawn of the new millennium, the Châtelet Theatre in Paris staged the world premiere of an opera by American composer John Adams, El Niño. The opera is a contemporary version of the Nativity, based on the writings of such great Latin-American poets as Rosario Castellanos or Gabriela Mistral. Stage producer Peter Sellars talks of the difficulties inherent in a world premiere, where everything remains to be invented and discovered, within a very limited time span. The new opera is of astonishing musical colouring – particularly in a trio of counter-tenors - and it is interpreted by outstanding artists: Dawn Upshaw and Willard White.