An opera never performed before in Florence. On the podium Lawrence Renes, a great promoter of Adams’ music who has frequently directed and recorded; the direction and the scenes are by Luca Guadagnino, for the first time at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. The Death of Klinghoffer questions, from its very first appearance, the profound complexity of conflicts that are rooted in myth and then burst into history” – comments director Luca Guadagnino, who also signs the sets - “The sublime purity of John Adams’ music and Alice Goodman’s libretto will be my firm guide in staging this immense opera at the Maggio Fiorentino, which I am honored to open in the 2026 season”.
The Death of Klinghoffer is an opera in a prologue and two acts by composer John Adams with a libretto by poet Alice Goodman, which was first performed in Brussels at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in 1991. In Italy it was only performed in 2002 in Ferrara and Modena. The opera is inspired by the sensational news event of October 1985: the seizure and hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro by terrorists from the Palestine Liberation Front. The incident, which attracted worldwide attention, ended with the murder of one of the passengers, Leonard Klinghoffer, a Jewish American citizen who was confined to a wheelchair, and whose body was then thrown into the sea by the terrorists.
New staging
First time in Florence
More characters TBD (updated: June 30, 2025)
Poster © Gianluigi Toccafondo
Tickets on sale: September 8, 2025
Conductor
Lawrence Renes
Chorus master
Lorenzo Fratini
Director and sets
Luca Guadagnino
Lights
Peter van Praet
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and Chorus
The Captain
Jeremy Carpenter
The first Officer
Andreas Mattersberger
Swiss Grandmother/Austrian Woman
Marina Comparato
Molqi
Roy Cornelius Smith
Mamoud
Levent Bakirci
Leon Klinghoffer
Laurent Naouri
Rambo
Joshua Bloom
British dancing girl
Janetka Hoșco
Yazmir
Ioanna Kykna
Marylin Klinghoffer
Katarina Dalayman
Stalls 1 (première) | 130,00€ |
Stalls 1 (other performances) | 110,00€ |
Stalls 2 | 90,00€ |
Stalls 3 | 75,00€ |
Stalls 4 | 65,00€ |
Boxes | 45,00€ |
Gallery | 35,00€ |
Limited visibility | 15,00€ |
Just listening | 10,00€ |