John Adams's Doctor Atomic has been nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Award for Opera. A jury of expert critics from BBC Music Magazine selected the nominees from recordings that received five-star reviews in 2018 in the magazine. The winners will be chosen by public vote, which begins today and ends February 19; the Awards will be announced at a ceremony on 10 April at Kings Place in London. To have your say, visit classical-music.com/awards and vote for your favorite now.

"Drawing up the shortlist for our Awards has been, like every year, a huge challenge—the quality of recordings in all genres throughout 2018 was remarkably high," says BBC Music Magazine editor Oliver Condy. "But now the power is in the hands of the music-loving public, and I'm excited to find out who they choose as the ultimate winners!"

On this first recording of his opera, which has also been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, the composer leads the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with a cast led by Gerald Finley, who originated the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Peter Sellars created the libretto, drawing from original sources to explore the final hours leading up to the first atomic bomb explosion at the Alamagordo test site in New Mexico in July 1945.

"The quality of the performance is extraordinary ... exceptional ... faultless," exclaimed BBC Radio 3's In Tune. "Superb recording." "Darkly spectacular," says the Times of London in a four-star review. "Doctor Atomic blasts off." "Grippingly vivid," declares the Financial Times in a five-star review; "one of his most far-reaching scores."

To pick up a copy of Doctor Atomic, head to your local music shop, iTunes, Amazon, and the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include a download of the complete two-disc album at checkout. The album also may be streamed at Spotify and Apple Music.