In the moments before he was shot, Leon Klinghoffer did not know his death would one day be the subject of an opera.

Nor did the members of the Palestine Liberation Front, who ordered the disabled American Jew’s body be dumped overboard into the Mediterranean along with his wheelchair, know that their voices would one day soar above an orchestra.

Nor were Marilyn Klinghoffer and the scores of other hostages huddled alongside her on the upper deck of an Italian luxury cruise liner aware of her husband’s quiet execution on the ship below, let alone that their experience would be relived on the most celebrated stages around the world.