As the General Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei has worked towards implementing new nuclear safeguards, reported on proliferation issues to the United Nations and received the Nobel Peace Prize. But he has rarely been serenaded by the topic on which he works so closely.

On Saturday, October 25 Dr. ElBaradei visited the Met for a performance of Doctor Atomic that left him both moved and reflective. “I can talk at length about these issues,” Dr. ElBaradei said after the performance. “But one performance like this encapsulates all the messages I have been trying to spread around the world in a most powerful, simple and yet most direct way.”

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On Friday, October 17, eleven Manhattan Project veterans stepped up to the stage in the CUNY Graduate Center auditorium and faced an audience of over two hundred. As they prepared to see the Saturday matinee performance of Doctor Atomic at the Met, the vets took the opportunity to reflect on their own experiences of building the bomb. Some had not seen each other for years. There were handshakes and back pats aplenty.

Dressed in slacks and sensible shoes, the vets wore a profusion of bow ties and had a proclivity for talk. “We’re going to have to keep this short, as we have such a wealth of knowledge up here,” moderator Brian Schwartz warned. It was a warning that went largely unheeded. Most veterans had to have the microphones wrenched from their hands. They each had a story to tell.

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A woman’s voice from a forgotten 1940s pop song soars and then sputters. A jet takes off on one side of the house, blasting across to the other. The gigantic ticks of a clock count off long, languid seconds. And with that, Doctor Atomic roars to life.

Sound designer Mark Grey, who has worked with composer John Adams for nearly two decades, moved agile fingers across a landscape of knobs, buttons, sliders and flashing lights. As the orchestra took command and the opera stars center stage, Grey remained positioned in the back of the house, building the architecture of the Doctor Atomic soundscape.

“We implemented a surround sound situation, a six zone surround sound,” Grey explained after a recent performance. “We shoot sound into these different zones. They travel between the zones and circulate around the house. It’s an interesting experience because you can’t quite tell where they’re coming from sometimes.”

And it’s a first for the Met.

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