An opera about the history of the atomic bomb. Robert Oppenheimer, Kitty Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, General Leslie Groves, and others associated with the history of the Manhattan Project are characters in this production, which debuts in SF this October. Snip from the American Music Center's blog:
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Less than a week after the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, John Adams and Peter Sellars gave a brief sneak preview of their new A-bomb-creation-themed opera Dr. Atomic to a group of journalists and other music industry professionals in Manhattan. (Perhaps appropriate despite the opera's San Francisco premiere since the A-bomb grew out of the Manhattan Project.) The SF Opera's musical administrator Kip Cranna and general director Pamela Rosenberg, who first initiated the project, were also on hand for the discussion at Avery Fisher Hall's Helen Hull Room, which was filled to maximum capacity.
The opera is scheduled for a ten-performance run in San Francisco beginning October 1. It travels to the Lyric Opera of Chicago and De Nederlandse Opera after that.
Link to full text of blog post.
Link to Dr. Atomic website, mit downloadable music files! It ain't over 'til the fat MIDI sings.
There's more than a little irony in the fact that a man named Peter Sellars (a noted opera director) is behind the project. (thanks, Susannah Breslin!)