Film director Luca Guadagnino, best known for Call Me By Your Name and Challengers, is directing his second opera, John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, at Florence's Maggio Musicale Fiorentino theatre. The production, his first opera in more than 15 years, has drawn controversy due to its subject matter: the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro by the Palestinian Liberation Front and the murder of disabled Jewish American tourist Leon Klinghoffer.
The opera has previously been accused of antisemitism and romanticising terrorism. This new staging is the first since the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 and the subsequent Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Guadagnino defended the work, saying it 'destroys that mirror' that renders victims invisible and forces audiences to confront difficult truths.
The opera is structured like a Bach passion, with monologues from hostages and hijackers interspersed with six chorales, including a Chorus of the Exiled Palestinians and a Chorus of the Exiled Jews. Guadagnino described it as a 'two-faced mirror' where the Klinghoffers come to contain multitudes. He has long been an admirer of Adams's music, having used it in his 2009 film I Am Love.
Conductor Lawrence Renes, leading his first Klinghoffer, called it 'infinitely harder' than other Adams works. The cast includes French bass-baritone Laurent Naouri and British soprano Susan Bullock. Guadagnino's production emphasises choreography, which he says will 'bleed out' of the chorales and accompany monologues, adding a physical dimension to the opera's political and emotional weight.
