February 17-23, 2005

artpicks

Death Row

opera

The intense emotions surrounding the subject matter of John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer are guaranteed to plunge the 1991 opera into instant controversy. Since it was written, the increasingly desperate condition of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has only complicated the logistics of performing the piece, which has been met with angry protests and at least one cancellation. This is a terrible shame, because Adams has become one of the most eloquent and powerful voices of his generation of composers, and The Death of Klinghoffer is a significant contribution to his body of work. The plot centers around the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro by the Palestine Liberation Front, which culminated in the sensational murder of Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound elderly Jewish man. As in Bach's large religious works, choruses provide context for the historical roots of the tragic strife. This leads Adams to conjure some sympathy for the Palestinian position — thus the cause of so much opposition to the opera, mainly by people who have not bothered to hear it. Perhaps now, with some furtive rays of hope emanating from the Middle East in recent days, The Death of Klinghoffer can be assessed in a calmer and more balanced fashion.

The Death of Klinghoffer, Fri., Feb. 18, 8 p.m., $30-$60, The Curtis Opera Theatre at the Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999, www.curtis.edu.

—Peter Burwasser