John Adams’s opera stars Gerald Finley as “Father of the A-Bomb.”
GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET launches its third season on PBS with the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Doctor Atomic, John Adams’ powerful portrait of the physicist presiding over the creation of the atom bomb, Monday, December 29 at 9 p.m. ET (check local listings). Presented by Thirteen/WNET New York in high definition and 5.1 digital surround sound, the 2005 work stars Canadian baritone Gerald Finley as the Faustian J. Robert Oppenheimer, “Father of the A-Bomb.” Alan Gilbert conducts.
Watch a preview:
UPDATE: Read an interview conducted by Thirteen.org with John Adams.
“An ambitious, haunting work,” proclaimed The New York Times of Penny Woolcock’s cinematic new production, with special praise for Finley (“vocally visceral and emotionally nuanced”) and Gilbert. “The performance he draws from the Met Orchestra and Chorus is a revelation. This score continues to impress as Mr. Adams’ most complex and masterly music.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer (On the Transmigration of Souls) often tackles contemporary and controversial subjects, such as his first opera, 1987’s Nixon in China. The second, The Death of Klinghoffer, followed in 1991, with Doctor Atomic having its world premiere at San Francisco Opera 14 years later. This production marks his Met debut.
Set in New Mexico in the summer of 1945, as scientists, led by Oppenheimer, and the military prepare to test the first nuclear bomb, the work neatly limns events that will radically change the course of history. “Adams has created a score filled with color, syncopation and lush interludes,” wrote Associated Press.
Doctor Atomic, sung in English to Peter Sellars’ libretto, is directed for television by Gary Halvorson and hosted by acclaimed Met mezzo Susan Graham. Julian Crouch designed the sets; Catherine Zuber the costumes; Brian MacDevitt the lighting. Andrew Dawson is choreographer. The production was transmitted as part of The Met: Live in HD series on November 8, 2008 and was recorded for this telecast.
Bonus material includes a feature on J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Also in the large cast are mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty; bass-baritone Richard Paul Fink (Edward Teller); bass-baritone Eric Owens (General Leslie Groves); tenor Thomas Glenn (Robert Wilson); and contralto Meredith Arwady (Pasqualita).
The Met’s new production of Doctor Atomic was underwritten through a generous grant from Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman. Funding for the GREAT PERFORMANCES telecast of Doctor Atomic is being provided by The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
GREAT PERFORMANCES is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS. Corporate support for GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET is provided by Toll Brothers.
Although I did not have the opportunity to see it live, it was nevertheless, one of the most inspiring opera experiences of my life. Gets right to the core of the heightened sense of wonder and loss that accompanied everything surrounding this historic event. Nothing about the opera is too obvious or too indirect. If interested, I’ve compiled a collection of the primary source material that was woven into lyrics on my blog. If you would like to add any additional libretto segments, please let me know and I will incorporate them. http://www.susannaspeier.com/music/dr-atomic/
[...] month Great Performances will air The Metropolitan Opera’s premiere of Doctor Atomic, composer John Adams’ powerful portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist presiding over [...]
If you’re a fan of John Adams, read the exclusive interview on Thirteen.org: http://www.thirteen.org/artsandculture/interview-john-adams-composer-of-doctor-atomic
When will the other operas (Salome, Damnation de Faust, Thaïs, etc.) will be airing on PBS ? And will last year operas (Macbeth, Il Trittico, Manon Lescaut, etc) will air on PBS this season ?
[...] PERFORMANCES AT THE MET - Doctor Atomic premieres on WVPT and WVPT-HD, Monday, December 29th at 9:00 p.m. [...]
THIS IS CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought tonight’s performance of Doctor Atomic on PBS was wonderful! The music, singers, words, and especially the incredible setting was so moving. I hope this production at the Met will be avaliable on DVD soon.
The opera reminded me of another perspective on the development of the Atomic Bomb, in Peggy Pond Church’s book, “The House at Otowi Bridge, The Story of Edith Warner and Los Alamos.” Church’s father ran the boy’s school that ultimately became Los Alamos. Warner ran a “tea house” near the San Iledefonso Pueblo where the scientists from Los Alamos came to eat periodically, one of the few places off the Los Almos compound where they were allowed to go. From Warner’s 1945 Christmas Letter: “Summer was dry and hot – so hot. … There was accelerated activity on the Hill (Los Alamos) with the men “going south” (to the Alamogordo site). Explosions on the Plateau seemed to increase and then to cease. Men were in the Pacific, leaving wives on the Hill. Things – unknown things – were happening.
The climax came on that August day when the report of the atomic bomb flashed around the world. It seemed fitting that it was Kitty Oppenheimer who, coming for vegetables, brought the news. … Much was now explained. Now I can tell you that Conant and Compton came through the kitchen door to eat ragout and chocolate cake, that Fermi, Allison, Teller, Parsons came many times, that Oppenheimer was the man I knew in pre-war years and who made it possible for the Hill people to come down;…It has been an incredible experience for a woman who chose to live in a supposedly isolated spot. … In no other way could I have seen develop a group feeling of responsiblity for presenting the facts to people and urging the only wise course – international control of atomic energy and bombs.”
Sheer contrivance… a chain of words. The music is directionless, monochromatic, and vacuuous. Death of Klinghoffer had such promise.
Ugh… a chain of words. The music is completely devoid of direction… Arguably monochromatic.
Great story… too bad the music comes off as a bad movie
background track. Good concept with poor execution. When
will the Met’s production of Satyagraha be shown?
Will there be another airing of Doctor Atomic (after Dec. 29) in the NYC area?
Saw in house and on TV. Didn’t improve on second hearing. Not much music, dialogue uninteresting. Waiting for Salome in January!
Will there be another airing of Dr. Atomic in the Detroit or AnnArbor area?/
Whether Doctor Atomic makes it into the operatic cannon or not seems largely beside the point. Being able to view, for free, at home on our television, a significant production of a new work by one of our leading contemporary composers fulfills the promise of “public” broadcasting as well as anything. Neither my wife nor I are opera devotees, nor regular television viewers for that matter, but we sat transfixed through the entire production. Kudos to everyone involved.
I watched the PBS broadcast and thought the production very interesting. The subject of Oppenheimer and development of the atomic bomb has been the subject of many books, plays and movies…so why not opera too. Met productions rock!
Replying to Mr. Williamson: I KNOW CRAP AND THIS ISN’T CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!
Viewed the Independent Lens coverage of the Met Production; missed the Dec. 29th airing; also hope for a re-airing in the L.A. area? PBS is truly the broadcast center of Performing Arts coverage.
I regret only seeing the last 45 minutes of this performance. Still, it was the most moving and thought-provoking thing I saw on television in all of 2008. (Mr. Williamson no doubt thinks “South Park” is high art.) Will it be re-broadcast? Please?
I generally love experimental opera and try to write operas myself. It is a difficult media. I enjoyed Doctor Atomic except that I thought Oppenheimer had too many long looks when he could have been singing. He has a marvelous face but he needed to be singing instead of just looking which turned into a rather static, empty staring. The staging was wonderful but the music was tentative and unsure and did not go with the blocking. However, all criticisms aside, I think it is wonderful that the Met has introduced this contemporary opera into its repertoire! Very moving. I need to see it through because I only was channel surfing and found it accidentally. I also watched the production in rehearsal and the composer John Adams is truly walking were no composer has walked. It is an experiment and naturally has a long way to go. I think he is a wonderful composer. I need to hear/see it again. Are you going to replay it again? Thanks for programming this new opera! Cecil Herring, a modern opera lover particularly opera conpositions by Philip Glass. How can I get a program guide? Sign me up!386-789-8010. 3242 Bretton Woods Terr. Deltona, FL 32725 cherring@spacescapes.com
I have read about and talk with people who have mixed reactions to this work, much like here, which just shows how diverse we all are.
I guess I am optimitic, hoping that all music can and will inform me positively or negatively, deeply or superficially. I liked this work, but I will admit there are places that seemed a bit long, especially in the second act. The rationale, I would assume, was to build the tension and anticipation for the final scene. While it might not rate in the top ten for me, I was glad to be exposed to it.
I really hope this will be aired again, and aslo released on DVD. I saw the HD theatre showing, and have listened to it (courtesy of Metropolitan Opera Radio on Dish Network) probably more than 20 times. I know the Sellars production is already available on DVD, but I thought the MET production was much better. I found all the movement in the Sellars production really distracting. The MET production was much more focused and really built the tension beautifully. Some of the music is just haunting Kitt’s “Am I in your light” and Oppenheimer’s “Batter my heart” that closes the first act are both amazing. The end of the first act is especially powerful in the MET staging. I loved Nixon in China, but I think this may be even a stronger piece. Adams is just brilliant!
Yo, mah man MC Ally G. an’ da Metro posse dun’ busted sum funky grooves all on up in da Big House!! Funky fresh J. Coolidge slid us hiz bes’ beatbox trix evah! Don’t kare watch’all say, Dr. A’s here 2 stay!!!
[...] 予告編（ビデオ） [...]
My regrets to Mr. Williamson (Comment #6, above.)
This work is great contemporary operatic art. Previously, I watched the PBS special on the creation of the San Francisco Opera premier. I really must say I liked the production concept and values from that production—such as I could glean from the special—better than those chosen for the Met production. In my view, the Met production was over produced in the sense that it became a lot about the scenery and the figures in the facade. I felt the San Francisco Opera production was more focused in the areas of the personal ethical/scientific conflict of the principals. That to me is the opera.
I loved what I saw of Peter Sellers imaginative, expressionistic staging for the San Francisco production. What the PBS special conveyed about that production was that we were in for a bold, convention-breaking experience. The opera seemed an attempt to expose the ethical dynamic embraced within the advance of scientific knowledge/possibility and the results in humanistic terms those efforts may engender. Humanity cannot always be said to “benefit” from applied science while pure science most always could be said to benefit the application of science.
That this opera exists is a great thing. There can be no doubt that the opera is art. John Adam’s music and Peter Sellers libretto combine to become a profound, if not transparent, statement about our world. I do not believe art can remain art and be transparent. Art invites our deeper examination and consideration—our pondering of issues toward which it directs our attention and special focus. This opera does that “in spades” for me.
Thank you PBS for presenting it.
A general comment about Great Performances: My dream is that Great Performances at the Met—indeed all the Met performances—will become available on Blu-ray disc. I will buy every one. High definition, superb sound and the big screen—mine is 49″ high and appropriately wide—make the experience of these performances “Great Performances”—both as the art they present and my ability to experience that art 3000 miles away from the live performance.
My Nirvana approaches via these PBS experiences.
I agree with Mr Ware, although not having seen the San Fran production, I will reserve judgement on the Met production. I actually found the setting in the Met production very engaging and appropriate.
I won’t even comment on the “Crap” comments – obviously written without any thought. I doubt the person watched the piece. Is this for everyone – no. But neither was Rite of Spring when it was first performed. This is what modern opera should be all about. This is a rich and complex piece that will take me several viewings to fully absorb.
“The more decisive a weapon is, the more surely it will be used, and no arguments will help. Could we have started the atomic age with clean hands?”
I’d never heard of this opera before I watched it today. I thought the staging, acting, and music were all top notch. The entire first act was, I thought, fascinating and well-paced; but the second act was waaaay too long!
The tension of the second act taking place literally in the shadow of an atomic bomb which we all know is going to go off, eventually became tedium. During the last half of the act, the characters simply restated themselves over and over again. When the siren sounded for the “five minute warning,” I actually said out loud, “Thank God!”
It was longer than five minutes, by the way. This is a fascinating story, I shouldn’t have been looking at my watch during the climax of it.
I went to the San Fran production and purchased it on DVD. I thought it was nothing compared to the Met performance. I am hoping PBS gets the DVD out for us to purchase. I really enjoyed it. Thanks.