What We Learned From 'The Death of Klinghoffer'
The Metropolitan Opera's production of "The Death of Klinghoffer" has generated praise and protest, with many boycotting the production. Before the opera's run ends this weekend, we explore the real events portrayed on stage, the history of art and controversy, and offer a critic's roundtable. Plus: your calls.
Part I: We set the opera in its historical context and examine the history of controversy surrounding art and theater back through the ages with Zachary Woolfe, freelance music critic for The New York Times.
Part II: We'll hear from Met Opera General Manager Peter Gelb, the librettist Alice Goodman and the opera's director Tom Morris.
Part III: A critical roundtable with the Washington Post's Anne Midgette, the First-Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams and Brooklyn College English Professor Moustafa Bayoumi.
Part IV: Your calls. 212-433-9692.
→ Stream "The Death of Klinghoffer": WQXR Operavore stream Thursday at 7 pm and Friday at 5 pm
A "Klinghoffer" Reading List
- Some historical context by Zachary Woolfe
- Questioning the Met's decision to stage the opera by Floyd Abrams
- A different take on why the opera is problematic by Moustafa Bayoumi
- The critics speak: a roundup of reviews, including Anne Midgette's
- A thoughtful take from Tablet Mag by Paul Berman
- The full libretto (pdf) by Alice Goodman
"Opera is often thought of as an art form in an ivory tower. But there are moments when it inserts itself into our lives." @zwoolfe
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) November 14, 2014
Alice Goodman wrote the libretto to #DeathofKlinghoffer: "... the understanding that everybody who is given a voice is a human being."
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) November 14, 2014
"I don't think I made Klinghoffer shallow at all. I'm taken aback that that accusation could be made," says librettist Alice Goodman.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) November 14, 2014
Director Tom Morris: "If it isn't the job of a work of art to look for the human in behavior that is inhuman, I don't know what it is."
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) November 14, 2014
Floyd Abrams on Klinghoffer: "He didn't just die. He was murdered by terrorists...The beautiful arias sung by them are [a defense.]"
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) November 14, 2014
