Schoenberg: Moses und Aron (Welsh National Opera), Royal Opera House

For just two days in July, the Welsh National Opera bring Schoenberg’s unfinished masterpiece, Moses und Aron , to Covent Garden. This promises to be a particularly exciting production, reuniting directors Sergio Morabito and Jossi Wieler. 

Morabito and Wieler have worked together many times before, perhaps most infamously on the Salzburg production of Dvořák’s Rusalka, which elicited boos on these shores due to its transportation of the final act to a seedy, European brothel. But we suspect the duo’s bold, innovative (and, dare we say it, “European”) style will be far better suited to Moses und Aron, which itself expands upon the operatic convention in fascinating ways.

Schoenberg never completed Moses und Aron, even though he began work on it (initially as a play, then as an oratorio) in the mid-1920s, and had finished the first two acts by 1932. Although Schoenberg frequently announced his intentions to complete the work throughout the remainder of his life – he died in 1951 – the third act remains incomplete beyond a few brief sketches. Despite this, Moses und Aron is universally hailed as a cornerstone of 20th-century opera. Like other operas from the Second Viennese School, it is particularly notable for its formal coherence: an enormous amount of the musical material that you hear during a performance can be traced to a single tone row.

The performers involved in this production are of the very highest quality. We are particularly excited to see none other than the iron-lunged Sir John Tomlinson in the title role. Conducting duties are taken on by the Welsh National Opera’s Music Director, Lothar Koenigs. Tickets for Friends of Covent Garden go on sale on March 19. But if you see yourself as more of a casual punter, you will be able to get hold of tickets when they go on general sale on April 8.