Burying 'Klinghoffer'

J. Adams, The Death of Klinghoffer (directed by Penny Woolcock)

Charles T. Downey, The Klinghoffer Controversy
Musicology Now, June 27

The Metropolitan Opera and its General Manager, Peter Gelb, took a considerable risk by planning to mount John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer this coming fall. The furor generated by the work's U.S. premiere in 1991 convinced its librettist, Alice Goodman, that it was time to stop writing opera librettos. As expected, the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups have continued their objections, pressuring the Met to withdraw its production. Gelb instead offered the compromise of going ahead with the production but canceling the HD simulcast, planned for November 15, when audiences in movie theaters around the world could have seen the final performance of the run.

For many opera fans who have never had the chance to see Klinghoffer live, myself included, the decision was disappointing...

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SEE ALSO:
jfl, Klinghoffer Is Dead (Ionarts, May 2, 2004)