In 1941, several months before the thirteen-year-old Kling was to receive the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in musical theory, he was expelled from school for being an 'undesirable element' and associated with the Jewish community.
He was sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp at the age of 14,[3] where he was chosen to perform in Viktor Ullmann's opera The Emperor of Atlantis, or The Disobedience of Death.
[6][7] He taught at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada for 20 years, and later became a professor emeritus and director of the music school (1980–87).
[5] In 1995, The Emperor of Atlantis was performed for the first time at Theresienstadt in a production of ARBOS - Company for Music and Theatre.
In 1996, the original score was presented at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa (Canada) as part of "The Triumph of the Human Spirit!"