{"id":19392,"date":"2014-06-17T15:26:54","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T19:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=19392"},"modified":"2014-06-19T09:07:55","modified_gmt":"2014-06-19T13:07:55","slug":"breaking-the-met-cancles-opera-over-fears-of-anti-semitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2014\/06\/17\/breaking-the-met-cancles-opera-over-fears-of-anti-semitism\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: The MET cancels opera broadcast over fears of anti-Semitism *updated*"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Opera\u00a0has announced they will be cancelling the upcoming HD theatrical transmission of\u00a0John Adams’\u00a0opera,\u00a0The Death of Klinghoffer<\/em>, originally scheduled for release next November.<\/p>\n

The MET says the decision was based on “…an outpouring of concern that its plans to transmit John Adams\u2019s opera […]\u00a0might be used to fan global anti-Semitism…” from the\u00a0Anti-Defamation League, who represent the wishes of the <\/span>Klinghoffer daughters.<\/span><\/p>\n

GM, Peter Gelb stated, \u201cI\u2019m convinced that the opera is not anti-Semitic. But I\u2019ve also become convinced that there is genuine concern in the international Jewish community that the live transmission of The Death of Klinghoffer would be inappropriate at this time of rising anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Original press release:<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Opera to cancel its\u00a0<\/strong>Live in HD\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>transmission of<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Adams\u2019s\u00a0The Death of Klinghoffer\u00a0<\/em>scheduled for this fall<\/strong><\/p>\n

New York, NY (June 17, 2014)<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 After an outpouring of concern that its plans to transmit John Adams\u2019s opera\u00a0The Death of Klinghoffer<\/em>\u00a0might be used to fan global anti-Semitism, the Metropolitan Opera announced the decision today to cancel itsLive in HD\u00a0<\/em>transmission, scheduled for November 15, 2014. The opera, which premiered in 1991, is about the 1985 hijacking of the\u00a0Achille Lauro\u00a0<\/em>cruise ship and the murder of one of its Jewish passengers, Leon Klinghoffer, at the hands of Palestinian terrorists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m convinced that the opera is not anti-Semitic,\u201d said the Met\u2019s General Manager, Peter Gelb. \u201cBut I\u2019ve also become convinced that there is genuine concern in the international Jewish community that the live transmission of\u00a0The Death of Klinghoffer<\/em>\u00a0would be inappropriate at this time of rising anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe.\u201d The final decision was made after a series of discussions between Mr. Gelb and Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, representing the wishes of the Klinghoffer daughters.<\/p>\n

In recent seasons, the Metropolitan Opera has championed contemporary operatic masterpieces as part of its ongoing efforts to keep opera artistically current. Previously, the Met has presented John Adams\u2019s other two major operas,\u00a0Doctor Atomic\u00a0<\/em>(in 2008) and\u00a0Nixon in China\u00a0<\/em>(in 2011). \u201cJohn Adams is one of America\u2019s greatest composers and\u00a0The Death of Klinghoffer\u00a0<\/em>is one of his greatest works,\u201d said Gelb. The Met will go forward with its stage presentation of\u00a0The Death of Klinghoffer<\/em>\u00a0in its scheduled run of eight performances from October 20 to November 15. In deference to the daughters of Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer, the Met has agreed to include a message from them both in the Met\u2019s Playbill and on its website.<\/p>\n

In recent years,\u00a0The Death of Klinghoffer<\/em>\u00a0has been presented without incident at The Juilliard School (2009), the Opera Theatre of St. Louis (2011), and as recently as this March in Long Beach, California. The Met\u2019s new production was first seen in London at the English National Opera in 2012, and received widespread critical acclaim.<\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n

[UPDATE, June 17, 4:30 p.m.]<\/p>\n

John Adams has released an official statement in response to the cancellation:<\/p>\n

“My opera accords great dignity to the memory of Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer, and it roundly condemns his brutal murder. It acknowledges the dreams and the grievances of not only the Israeli but also the Palestinian people, and in no form condones or promotes violence, terrorism, or anti-Semitism. The cancellation of the international telecast is a deeply regrettable decision and goes far beyond issues of \u201cartistic freedom,\u201d and ends in promoting the same kind of intolerance that the opera\u2019s detractors claim to be preventing.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michael Vincent<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Metropolitan Opera\u00a0has announced they will be cancelling the upcoming HD theatrical transmission of\u00a0John Adams’\u00a0opera,\u00a0The Death of Klinghoffer, originally scheduled for release next November. The MET says the decision was based on “…an outpouring of concern that its plans to transmit John Adams\u2019s opera […]\u00a0might be used to fan global anti-Semitism…” from the\u00a0Anti-Defamation League, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[117,39,43],"tags":[4730,4729],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-17-at-3.03.37-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-52M","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19392"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19406,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392\/revisions\/19406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19392"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}