Production

New Mexico, early morning, 16 July 1945: Scientists in the team led by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer test the world’s first atomic bomb. The atmosphere is tense, and there is massive time pressure. The bomb is urgently required for the USA to win the war against Japan and deter interference by the Soviet Union. But a storm, the fear of uncontrolled consequences for the environment, and the knowledge that the bomb will fall on civilians, plummet the team into a moral conflict, which threatens to split its cohesion. Ultimately scientific zeal conquers all. The bomb detonates, and thus marks a tipping point in humanity’s relationship with the planet – since this Monday morning it has the power to destroy the world. “Little Boy“ and “Fat Man” fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki three weeks later.For American composer John Adams, the story surrounding Oppenheimer, the “American Faust“, is the great mythological tale of the modern period – a man who unleashes forces that he himself cannot control, and which threaten to destroy everything. The basis for the semi-documentary opera is provided by original historical documents and poetic texts from Oppenheimer’s bookshelf, including works by Charles Baudelaire and the central scripture of Hinduism, the Bhagavad Gita. While Adams’s first opera, Nixon in China, still aligned with the minimalist style, in Doctor Atomic, his third opera, virtually gigantic, dynamic and expressive high points ring out – a combination of minimalism with neo-romantic forms of expression and echoes, tending towards traditional opera forms, such as arias, choirs and ballet interludes.