John Adams
The Death of Klinghoffer
Conductor
Lawrence Renes
Director and sets
Luca Guadagnino
Programma
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)
Artists
Conductor
Lawrence Renes
Chorus master
Lorenzo Fratini
Director and sets
Luca Guadagnino
Choreography
Ella Rothschild
Lights
Peter van Praet
Sound designer
Mark Grey
Costumes
Marta Solari
Sculpture
Berlinde De Bruyckere
Make-Up Artist
Fernanda Perez
Fashion designer
Elena Pavinato
Music assistant
Joseph Marcheso
Direction assistant
Paola Rota
Sets assistant
Axelle Ponsonnet
Costume assistant
Davide Boni
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and Chorus
The Captain
Daniel Okulitch
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
Omar
Marvic Monreal
Marylin Klinghoffer
Susan Bullock
Dancers
Micah Best, Zachary Buri, Jenna Davis, Matilde Di Ciolo, Flavio Ferruzzi, Ria Girard, Shaked Heller, Emilia Martinez, Skye Notary, Riley O’Flynn, Margherita Petrosino, Reika Shirasa
Actors and Acrobats
Elena Barini, Roberta Benvenuti, Sabina Casaroni, Luciano Colzani, Maria Caterina Frani, Federica Garavaglia, Leila Ghiabbi (acrobat), Alma Sophie Golinski, Edoardo Groppler, Giada Inserra (acrobat), Sandro Mabellini, Stefano Mascalchi, Guido Mazzoni, Francesco Pacelli, Leonardo Paoli (acrobat), Irene Petris, Laura Pistolesi (acrobat), Carlo Pucci, Federico Raffaelli, Roberta Raimondi, Hortencia Teran, Simone Ticci (acrobat)
Kids
Paolo Pieri, Bernardo Turi
Running Time
Approximately 3 hours
Performances
Prices
| 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€ |
Gallery




















Locandina






