Monday night’s premiere of “The Death of Klinghoffer” was not one of the easiest nights in the history of The Metropolitan Opera, but it was one of the most important.
Composer John Adams has now joined the ranks of Giuseppe Verdi, whose “Don Carlo,” set during the Spanish Inquisition, was protested by various religious groups in the early 1950s, and Richard Strauss, whose provocative “Salome” premiere at the Met in 1907 was thought to be unseemly on at least seven counts.
As readers of The Post know well by now, “The Death of Klinghoffer” depicts the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship by Palestinian terrorists and their brutal murder of a 69-year-old, wheelchair-bound Jewish passenger, Leon Klinghoffer.
Adams chose to explore a disturbing subject, and succeeded in challenging us to think about difficult events and issues in ways that, although unsettling, can also be illuminating. That’s what art is supposed to do.
On Monday night, while protesters demonstrated outside and a few voices inside attempted to disrupt the performance by shouting over the music (before being escorted out), conductor David Robertson coolly led the orchestra, chorus, dancers and singers through the two-act opera.
For those who came to listen and watch, it was a deeply moving experience that left no doubt which side the opera was on: the side of humanity.
As Michaela Martens, the mezzo-soprano who plays Marilyn Klinghoffer, wrenchingly mourns the loss of her murdered husband, singing the final words of the libretto — “They should have killed me. I wanted to die” — the audience (and even the hecklers) were united in silence. Those present knew that they had experienced a transformative work of art on a historic night.
Although some members of our company and I have suffered a deluge of insults and threats — “Shame on Gelb” T-shirts were being distributed outside the opera house on Monday evening — I don’t believe in bowing to acts of unfair intimidation.
As a teenage office boy working for the Russian-American producer Sol Hurok, I survived the wrongheaded firebombing of our offices by the Jewish Defense League, even though most of the employees were Jewish, including Iris Kones — the 27-year-old secretary who sat at the desk next to mine and died in the attack.
Of course, the “Klinghoffer” protesters have the right to peacefully protest. I just wish those who protest had the opportunity to make up their own minds, instead of relying on unfair propaganda.
When I was a child attending Sunday school, I was taught by a wise rabbi that we shouldn’t go to bed at night without having learned at least one new thing during the day. I was brought up to be intellectually curious about the world around me and to try to understand the reasons behind human conflict. I was taught that knowledge was the key to understanding.
When I became the Met’s 16th general manager in 2006, I was determined to shake out some of the cobwebs of grand opera, in part by presenting the most important operas of recent times. Since John Adams is America’s most accomplished opera composer of the past 25 years, I decided to present his operas on the stage of the Met. As America’s leading opera company, I believed that it is our duty and privilege to present the works of America’s greatest composer.
Each of Adams’ operas is a poetic exploration of recent historical events: “Nixon in China,” which explores the first encounter in Beijing of Nixon and Mao; “Doctor Atomic,” which is about Robert Oppenheimer and his atomic bomb; and “Klinghoffer,” which attempts to understand the seemingly endless conflict of Jews and Palestinians.
What remains confusing about the current controversy is that the protesters don’t seem to realize that “The Death of Klinghoffer” is in complete sympathy with the Klinghoffers. But the protesters haven’t seen the opera.
Although “The Death of Klinghoffer” has been called anti-Semitic and a glorification of terrorism, anyone who attends will see that is clearly not the case. The libretto attempts to explore the motives of the criminals who perpetrated the Klinghoffer crime, something we should all strive to understand.
I would urge the protesters to come and hear the opera in one of the remaining seven performances, and then decide what the truth really is.
Peter Gelb is the general manager of The Metropolitan Opera.