Oppenheimer’s operatic life

Composer John Adams and librettist Alice Goodman, who collaborated on the operas “Nixon in China” and “The Death of Klinghoffer,” have been commissioned by the San Francisco Opera to create an opera about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw development of the atomic bomb.

The opera, currently called “Doctor Atomic,” is scheduled to premiere during the 2005-06 season, with Peter Sellars directing. It will be a co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago.

-- Lee Margulies