klinghoffer
1994

Klinghoffer marked Leigh Warren's first major exploration of the interaction between live music and dance. The work is based on the John Adams opera The Death of Klinghoffer, which takes as its starting point the murder of the American tourist Leon Klinghoffer during the hijack of the cruise liner the Achille Lauro.

However, the opera's central theme is not the murder, but the common longing of Palestinians and Israelis for a homeland, expressed in seven intricate choruses. It is these choruses that Leigh chose to set in Klinghoffer.

The extraordinary feature of Klinghoffer was the use of the Corinthian Singers of Adelaide - dressed in white robes and with white make-up and hair, the choir moved on stage with the dancers and formed a living screen on which designer Mary Moore projected ever changing images of desert and war.