European premiere of Adams' Doctor Atomic at the Holland Festival(June 2007) Amsterdam plays host to the European premiere of Doctor Atomic by John Adams on 10 June, providing a highlight of the Holland Festival. Telling the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the lead scientist in the development of the atom bomb, the opera focuses on the secret testing in New Mexico in summer 1945, and the implications for mankind as the mushroom cloud rises above the desert.
The Peters Sellars production of Doctor Atomic was premiered at San Francisco Opera in October 2005 and the Netherlands Opera performances feature baritone Gerald Finley returning to the title role. This staging travels to Chicago Lyric Opera in December, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York recently announced a new production scheduled for October 2008. Adams has recently completed the Doctor Atomic Symphony, a 30-minute orchestral suite from the opera, recomposed into a symphonic whole. Selected music includes the Overture, Oppenheimer’s Baudelaire soliloquy, the electrical storm music, Batter my heart, and the culminating Countdown music. Co-commissioned by the Saint Louis Symphony, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Carnegie Hall, the Doctor Atomic Symphony can be heard in London at the BBC Proms (21 August), Saint Louis (7 February 2008) and New York (16 February). Following performances in Vienna, Berlin and San Francisco, the latest collaboration between Adams and Sellars, A Flowering Tree, reaches London this summer with a semi-staged production at the Barbican (10/12 August). For tickets please visit the Barbican website. The full Sellars staging of this modern retelling of an Indian folktale is scheduled at Lincoln Center in New York in 2009. May 2008 brings a ZaterdagMatinee concert performance in Amsterdam and a new staging by Nicola Raab at Chicago Opera Theater. > Further information on Work: Doctor Atomic Photo: Gerald Finley as Doctor Atomic at San Francisco Opera (Terrence McCarthy) > News Search |
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