James Maddalena & Nmon Ford. Photo by Stephanie Berger

In 1985, four Palestinians attempted to hijack the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and, before abandoning their effort, killed Leon Klinghoffer--an American Jew in a wheelchair—and another, female passenger. In 1991, when George Bush, Sr.’s Gulf War was a current event, composer John Adams and poet Alice Goodman’s opera “The Death of Klinghoffer,” in which choruses of exiled Palestinians and Jews help provide some context for the action, made the rounds (Brooklyn, California, Belgium, England and France). Early this month, with America still actively engaged in Middle East policy, “Klinghoffer” was revived, in a staged concert version, produced by Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Ridge Theater at BAM’s Gilman Opera House, where it played 12 years earlier.

“Klinghoffer” engendered controversy from the start, when some found the depiction of the Palestinian hijackers too sympathetic and that of the American Jews too critical. The Boston Symphony Orchestra canceled performance of some of the choruses shortly after 9/11. At BAM this week, with terrorism in Israel, Turkey, France and locally, and in our consciousness every day, security, not illogically, subjected audience members to the sort of scrutiny common at airports—emptying pockets of metal, walking through a metal detector and submitting to the wave of the wand.

This new “Klinghoffer” was conducted by Brooklyn Philharmonic Music Director Robert Spano and directed by Ridge Theater’s Bob McGrath. The soloists were in costume and some carried props. The chorus—the New York Virtuoso Singers--was in black and carried scores. Vivid projections--of the sea, the ship, the pyramids and the wilderness—defined the action’s locales. Designs were by Laurie Olinder (visuals), Bill Morrison (film), Kaye Voyce (costumes), Matt Frey (lighting) and Michael Byrnes (sets). These forces were uniformly excellent, but could not keep the first of the opera’s two acts from falling flat. Fortunately, matters improved for the second.

In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, many music lovers hailed composer Adams’ enhanced minimalist idiom for “Nixon in China” and “ Klinghoffer” as a relief from and much-needed improvement upon the hypnotic repetitions in the work of Philip Glass, which influenced it. Music of Benjamin Britten—the “Peter Grimes” Sea Interludes and more—came to mind more than once during the newer work.

Here, however, Act One--shorn of a lively, if banal, scene of the Klinghoffers’ loved ones musing on the couple off on the cruise--was discouraging. The monologue of an Austrian passenger, wittily delivered in the sprechtstimme (song speech) style of Berg and Schoenberg, and a propulsive chorus at the end alone, varied the glacial pace of the act’s reflections on the hijacking and on Nature. Act Two, more varied, more thoroughly engaged the listener. It offered the terrorists’ agitated monologues; Klinghoffer’s angry confrontation with one of them and dream-like meditation on his corpse’s descent through the waves; his wife Marilyn’s sympathetic arias; an interlude with a dippy young Englishwoman who treats the hijacking as a lark; and the dignified Captain’s offer to sacrifice himself on behalf of his passengers and crew and realistically empty condolences for the new widow. Kudos to the nine soloists--Stephen Powell and Nancy Maultsby as the Klinghoffers; Phyllis Pancella and Kirsten Blase as other passengers; James Maddalena returning to the role of the Captain, which he created; Todd Wilander, Nmon Ford, Eric Owens and Christina Wilcox as the terrorists—for their high-level performances.

Stephen Powell & Nancy Maultsby. Photo by Stephanie Berger

The Brooklyn Philharmonic’s season continues with Glass’s suite for the film “The Hours,” punctuated by Michael Cunningham’s readings from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which inspired it (February 14, 2004); musical depictions of Don Quixote by Falla, Esplį and Gerhard (February 28); a celebration of Brooklyn, with works by Bernstein, Copland, Foss and Ives (March 27); and John Corigliano’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” settings of poems by Bob Dylan (May 22).

BAM 1 Hanson Place, Brooklyn

December 3, 5 & 5

Tickets $20-55 718/636-2021

Brooklyn Philharmonic

Tickets (4-concert series) $77-198 718/622-5838