Composer John Adams re-creates the tension at Los Alamos, 1945, the night before the first atom bomb is tested. Gerald Finley portrays Dr. Oppenheimer; the first act ends with a soul-searching aria, "Batter My Heart." Doctor Atomic is an opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams, with libretto by Peter Sellars.It premiered at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. John Adams's Harmonielehre pays homage to. John Adams's music is infused with elements of all of following styles EXCEPT. He discusses the Met’s production with Adams, director Penny Woolcock, and set designer Julian … (text by John … Doctor Atomic concerns the final hours leading up to the first atomic bomb explosion at the Alamagordo test site in New Mexico in July of 1945. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams’ Dr. Atomic Symphony, performed here by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Robertson, is a thrilling distillation of musical themes from Adams’ 2005 opera Dr. Atomic. Igor Stravinsky. John Adams’ works, spanning more than four decades, have entered the repertoire and are among the most performed of all contemporary classical music, among them Harmonielehre, Shaker Loops, Chamber Symphony, Doctor Atomic Symphony, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, and his Violin Concerto. This 2007 work is a 25-minute white-knuckle ride that manages to convey all the … John Adams's Doctor Atomic focuses on the conscience of: physicist Robert Oppenheimer. The focal characters are the physicist and Manhattan Project director, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer; his wife Kitty; Edward Teller; and General Leslie Groves, the US Army commander of the project. jazz. Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, moderates a discussion about his decision to stage John Adams’ opera Doctor Atomic for the first time in New York City. John Adams's operas, Doctor Atomic, Nixon in China, and The Death of Klinghoffer, … Doctor Atomic is the fifth work to result from almost twenty years of collaboration between the American composer and his fellow American director … Opera by John Adams Libretto by Peter Sellars Direction by Yuval Sharon Music Direction by Johannes Willig Stage by Dirk Becker Costume Design by Sarah Rolke The story is based on Richard Rhodes' book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," and John Adams admits that the title of the opera, "Doctor Atomic," has the ring of a 1950s B-movie. January 2014 Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Germany Revived at the Teatro de Maestranza, Seville, Spain in March 2015. The question of the moral implications of the atomic bomb is raised in John Adams’ opera, just as much as that of the influence on the private lives of the main characters. Email Signup. Doctor Atomic. The theme for this opera was suggested to Adams … With Gerald Finley, Sasha Cooke, Eric Owens, Richard Paul Fink. Doctor Atomic is the product of a six-year collaboration between composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars, whose previous operas together include Nixon in China and The Death of Kling-hoffer. Audiences have their own favorites among the operas of John Adams, but Doctor Atomic (2005) has the advantage of being inarguably suited in its subject matter to the dimensions of grand opera: it takes for its topic the detonation of the first atomic bomb, with its first act occurring a month before the … The work focuses on the great stress and anxiety experienced by those at Los Alamos while the test of the first atomic bomb (the "Trinity" test) was being … The Making of the Opera Doctor Atomic. Directed by Gary Halvorson. Find The Metropolitan Opera on Facebook (opens new window) Find The Metropolitan Opera on Twitter (opens new window) Find The Metropolitan Opera on Instagram (opens new window)