Leslie John & Paul

The longing to overcome human boundaries led the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to begin an experiment that formed a threat to the whole of humanity, and whose scientific results still do today. The question of the moral implications of the atomic bomb is raised in John Adams’ opera, just as much as that of the influence on the private lives of the main characters. Doctor Atomic is the fifth work to result from almost twenty years of collaboration between the American composer and his fellow American director and Erasmus Prize-winner Peter Sellars.

The longing to overcome human boundaries led the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to begin an experiment that formed a threat to the whole of humanity, and whose scientific results still do today. The question of the moral implications of the atomic bomb is raised in John Adams’ opera, just as much as that of the influence on the private lives of the main characters. Doctor Atomic is the fifth work to result from almost twenty years of collaboration between the American composer and his fellow American director and Erasmus Prize-winner Peter Sellars.

This is a Sherlock Holmes story with a difference. Here Dr Watson is the ace detective and has been using an actor to play the part Holmes. Holmes is a drunken actor and gets on Watson's nerves. When Watson tries to go it alone, he doesn't have much success, so he is forced to let Holmes take all the credit once more.

Ian Anderson: I think, this is pretty much the only time that I've ever sung anybody else's lyrics.
Jack Bruce: The work that Leslie, Laszlo and me did turned out to be some of my favorite vocal performances of recent times.
Al di Meola: I hardly work with anybody else, Leslie can bring everybody together, that's a great testament. …

Born in Budapest, the drummer and bandleader of German descent László (Leslie) Mandoki belonged to the 1970s' student opposition in communist Hungary. Far beyond the system-conform mainstream, his Jazz-Rock formation "JAM" symbolized the longing for a free world. In 1975, he was forced to leave the country because of governmental repression. Accompanied by his two closest friends, László Bencker and Gábor Csupó, their flight was followed by a long odyssey. On his quest for freedom, he found more than that: a new home - in Germany.