John Adams' DOCTOR ATOMIC to Receive South Bay Premiere at Opera San José

This February, Opera San José will bring audiences to the dawn of the atomic age with the South Bay premiere of John Adams' Doctor Atomic, the company's first opera by the celebrated Berkeley-based composer, arriving just ahead of his 80th birthday. Performances will run February 14-28, 2027.

Set in the final hours before the world's first atomic bomb test, the opera follows J. Robert Oppenheimer and the scientists of the Manhattan Project as they confront the moral and human consequences of their work. Eighty years later, as Silicon Valley races toward new technological frontiers with artificial intelligence, Doctor Atomic offers a timely reflection on ambition, responsibility, and the cost of discovery.

Adams' pulsing, cinematic score meets Peter Sellars' libretto shaped by historical documents, government records, and poetry, including the John Donne sonnet that inspired the name of the Trinity test. Baritone Johnathan McCullough makes his company debut as Oppenheimer, joined by mezzo-soprano Laura Krumm as his wife, Kitty. OSJ General Director & CEO Shawna Lucey directs, and Music Director Joseph Marcheso conducts, reuniting the creative team behind OSJ's Bluebeard's Castle, with set design by Steven C. Kemp, costume design by Caitlin Cisek, and lighting design by Michael Clark. Doctor Atomic is presented by arrangement with B&H Music Publishing, Inc.

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