Hungary’s very own Zoltán Kocsis has finished Arnold Schönberg’s uncompleted opera, Moses and Aaron, and the world premiere is slated for January 16th at the Palace of Arts!

The Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna preserved the great composer’s framework for the third act, which he wasn’t able to finish before his death in 1951. Kocsis, as he describes it, “took on the role of co-composer, expanded upon the framework in Schönberg’s style, although not entirely, since I’m interested in different harmonies, I have a different musical past, and different melodies excite me. Nevertheless, I feel I was Schönberg’s student for three months...”

Kocsis and the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir that he conducts are very familiar with this work, having performed the first two acts at their Hungarian premiere in summer 2009 at the Miskolc Opera Festival. The original concert performance was in 1954 in Hamburg.
It’s not an easy piece. Moses and Aaron is Schönberg’s most personal, most perfect work, even in its unfinished state. It clearly expresses the conflict between the two main characters. Moses must convince the people to believe in the one, invisible God, in place of idols. He has a calling, but he’s not convincing. Aaron is dubious, but he has good ‘people skills’, and has a practical outlook. Which one of them is right?

Schönberg’s doesn’t give an answer either, although he deals with Moses and Aaron’s conflict in prose in Der biblische Weg, setting the story in the 1920s. The situation is not easy for the actors, as Schönberg didn’t write actions but thoughts and ideals instead, giving the singers and actors the chance to express themselves.

The prose work will be heard for the second time in the world, after its premiere at the Miskolc Opera Festival. The performance by the students of the Kaposvár University Faculty of Arts was well-received, and they intend to repeat their success on January 16th prior to the opera performance, at 5 p.m. in the Glass Hall (Üvegterem).

The main event, the world premiere of Moses and Aaron in three acts, begins at 7:30 p.m. Wolfgang Schöne will play Moses, and Daniel Brenna will play Aaron, accompanied by the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. The composer of the third act, the director of the National Philharmonic, Zoltán Kocsis, will conduct.

Palace of Arts  January 16, 2010

www.mupa.hu

Tickets are available in larger ticket offices and on ww.filharmonikusok.hu