John Adams conducts John Adams

Like many of John Adams operas Doctor Atomic is based on recent world historical eventshere the effusive Robert Oppenheimer father of the atomic bomb anxiously awaits the bombs first test in Los Alamos New Mexico Adams adapted the work into a symphony comprising its three main acts In the second half of the program Adams conducts his 2015 violin concerto Scheherazade2 which restages the tale of the One Thousand and One Nights heroine as a strong woman navigating a patriarchial society incarnated by the solo violin part The work was composed specifically for CanadianAmerican virtuoso Leila Josefowicz and cocommissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra who perform it to perfection The evening then closes out with Tromba Lontana an orchestral fanfare written to mark the 150th anniversary of Texass independence from Mexico in 1836