Teatro

Maggio Musicale

Fiorentino

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

Thanks to Ferragamo for the support

We would like to thank Ursula Patzak for the costume consultancy

Special thanks to Professor James Williams for the historical consultancy

The performance on April 19 will be broadcast live on Rai Radio 3 and later televised the same day at 6:00 PM on Rai 5

Poster © Gianluigi Toccafondo

James Williams - Reading the Death of Klinghoffer (original version of the article in the programme)

Alice Goodman: interview by James Williams (original version of the interview in the programme)