Moses and Aron at Komische Oper Berlin

Schönberg’s magnum opus, two-thirds of which was completed in Berlin between 1930 and 1932, remained unfinished in the estate of this musical innovator, who was the victim of violent, relentless persecution. Here it is staged with a cast of over 200. Drawing on a treasury of Jewish imagery dating back thousands of years, Barrie Kosky tells the story of the Exodus of the Israelites as a parable of all people who embark upon a search.

The star Russian conductor Vladimir Jurowski, whose career began over 20 years ago at the Komische Oper Berlin and quickly led him to acclaimed appearances in great concert halls and opera houses from London to New York, is returning to his former domain for this major project.

Ideas or deeds? Thoughts or images? Schönberg’s opera is anything but a dry piece about abstract religious concepts. Instead, it is a gripping musical drama about mankind’s never-ending search for something greater, and the insatiable human longing for the "land of milk and honey". The fact that this piece had to remain unfinished may possibly be explained by the theme of the work itself. It is not only the contradiction between Moses, the man of ideas, and his brother Aaron, the man of words and images, which is ultimately irreconcilable. In the final analysis, the eternal search for the Promised Land must also remain unfulfilled, for Schönberg himself, for the Jewish people and by extension for mankind as a whole.