MOSES and ARON

THE 2019 ROMANIAN PREMIERE OF MOSES UND ARON BY ARNOLD SCHOENBERG – A MUSICAL MANIFESTO ON THE OPPOSITION BETWEEN THOUGHT AND ACTION, AT #ENESCUONLINE

One of the masterpieces of 20th-century opera, Moses und Aron by Arnold Schoenberg premiered in Romania at the 2019 George Enescu International Festival, performed by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir conducted by Lothar Zagrosek, and Vocalconsort Berlin with Iosif Ion Prunner as chorus master. The production featured a stellar lineup of internationally acclaimed artists, with Robert Hayward (Moses) and John Daszak (Aron) as cast headliners. The opera was staged with multimedia projections created by Nona Ciobanu and Peter Košir, which outlined with visual subtlety the powerful narrative.

Moses und Aron, an unfinished opera, is the last and most imposing lyric work composed by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), for which the musician wrote the libretto himself. A biblical drama written as a dodecaphonic opera that calls into question the classical tonal language, the piece is so complex and audacious that it presents a major challenge for artists in staging and performing it. Moses und Aron has became known for its insistence on questioning existence itself, as its two Biblical characters, Moses and his brother Aaron, symbolize the opposition between Thought and Action in a period dominated by the political upheaval that ended in Nazi savagery (Schoenberg wrote the first two acts in 1930-1932).