Sellars has constructed a dramatic and suspenseful scenario. When Goodman dropped out, Sellars compiled a libretto using interviews, memoirs, declassified scientific reports and poems ranging from the "Bhagavad Gita" to John Donne, Charles Baudelaire and the mid-century American poet Muriel Rukeyser. "Doctor Atomic" contends with Robert Oppenheimer and the first atomic bomb tests at Los Alamos. Both of these had eloquent and pointed librettos by the poet Alice Goodman. The second and most controversial is "The Death Of Klinghoffer," which deals with the circumstances surrounding the notorious Palestinian terrorist attack on the Italian cruise ship the Achille Lauro, which resulted in the death of a wheelchair-bound Jewish-American tourist. The first and maybe still the most satisfying is "Nixon In China," which is about a valuable accomplishment by a dishonored president - the opening of communist China to the West. LLOYD SCHWARTZ, BYLINE: "Doctor Atomic" is the third collaboration between composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars dealing with key turning points in modern history. (SOUNDBITE OF JOHN ADAMS' "DOCTOR ATOMIC: OVERTURE") Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says this may well be the definitive performance. A new recording conducted by the composer himself has just been released.
It had its world premiere in San Francisco in 2005. "Doctor Atomic" is an opera by John Adams and Peter Sellars about the first atom bomb test.
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