Performance History
- San Francisco premiere
The original San Francisco Opera production was directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Donald Runnicles, with choreography by Lucinda Childs. The assistant conductor was Donato Cabrera. It featured Richard Paul Fink as Edward Teller, Gerald Finley as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Thomas Glenn as Robert Wilson, Kristine Jepson as Kitty Oppenheimer, Eric Owens as General Leslie Groves, James Maddalena as Jack Hubbard, Jay Hunter Morris as Captain James F. Nolan, Beth Clayton as the Oppenheimers' Tewa maid Pasqualita, and Seth Durant as Peter Oppenheimer (Robert Oppenheimer's son). Sets were designed by Adrianne Lobel, costumes by Dunya Ramicova, lighting by James F. Ingalls, and sound by Mark Grey.
Kitty Oppenheimer's aria, "Easter Eve, 1945", by Muriel Rukeyser (from her poem of the same name) was premiered by Audra McDonald in May, 2004 with the New York Philharmonic and Adams conducting. Two extracts from the work were performed in London in August 2004, conducted by John Adams as part of the 2004 Proms season.
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