“Rave review.” That’s right, by me!
Overlooked among the media coverage on Doctor Atomic is the support provided for those who want to learn more. When it comes to opera, I have long admired John Adams for creating works that have direct relevance to my life and times. Don’t get me wrong, I admire John for his music and his increasingly important role as a musical ambassador. In fact, John is a friend of mine. That being said, his operas are about a world I know, my world, and while I always appreciate the universal quality of timeless operas and other musical works, there is something more broadly satisfying when it come to a work that has a true, bulls-eye quality when it comes to cultural relevance.
So, here you have a work with so very many opportunities to explore that cultural relevance: history, science, politics, and more, all connected to some of the most striking figures of the 20th century, including J. Robert Oppenheimer and Harry Truman.
This work was crying out for a broad-based approach to education and outreach, and the Met Opera and Met Opera Guild has done one bang up job.
Click these links to see all that the Met Opera and Met Opera Guild have to offer, including:
Science and Society–Explore the impact of the bomb on science, the arts, current events, and more.
“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” J.Robert Oppenheimer as he witnessed the first successful test of the atomic bomb.