(Above: Schoenberg with his family, Los Angeles, 1948. Check out loads more photos here)
Bologna's Teatro Comunale soon opens The Schoenberg Experience with the Austrian composer as protagonist of a four day program dedicated to the coolest of the cool, Arnold Schoenberg, in collaboration with Vienna's Arnold Shoenberg Center (if you visit Vienna, it's mandatory, as well as a slice of Estherhazy torte at Demel and the deli counter at Meinl am Graben).
The Vienna-based foundation, led by president Nuria Schoenberg Nono, is behind Bologna's kick-off concert on December 2. On December 3, Nuria Schoenberg Nono leads a conference titled "Schoenberg in America: 1933-1951". On December 5, the concert hall is swapped for a movie theater where Jean-Marie Straub's and Danièle Huillet's film Moses und Aron will be shown, based on Schoenberg's challenging opera of the same name.
Sure, Schoenberg was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century and changed the entire trajectory of classical music as we had known it, but when he put on his pants just like the rest of us, he made gold records. And crazy, hand-drawn bridge cards.