Art is not a question of ability, but of necessity

Arnold Schönberg

In celebration of the influential Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg’s 150th birthday the hybrid reading “Art is not a question of ability, but of necessity” will take place at Villa Aurora. The renowned actress Sunnyi Melles will read from contemporary documents to provide an insight into the composer's eventful life. Schönberg is considered a central figure of the Second Viennese School and revolutionized Western compositional techniques with his twelve-tone music. The program will be accompanied by video clips and sound design by Constantin Wittgenstein, son of Sunnyi Melles.

Sunnyi Melles, the Swiss film and theater actress, was born to Hungarian parents in Luxembourg. Her grandmother Lóth Ila was a silent film actress. Her father Carl Melles was a conductor and her mother, Judith Rohonczy, an actress. Her daughter Leonille Wittgenstein is also an actress. After her parents emigrated from Hungary in 1956, Sunnyi Melles grew up in Switzerland. At the age of 10, she was on stage with her mother at the Theater Basel. At the age of 14, she played her first film role, Rosa, alongside Max von Sydow in the movie Steppenwolf. She completed her acting school at the Otto Falkenberg School in Munich. In addition to engagements at the Munich Kammerspiele, the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Burgtheater, she has appeared in films such as Hotel Adlon, Buddenbrooks, Narcissus and Goldmund and most recently in Triangle of Sadness and the mini-series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld.

Constantin Wittgenstein, born in Munich in 1994, is a passionate DJ and has been producing music for over 10 years. Wittgenstein began playing the piano at the age of five, followed by the drums at 13. He studied Creative Music Technology at London Metropolitan University. His music ranges from experimental music to house, dub and techno. His first LP Leonille was released in 2021 and his first single Don't Stop Looking in 2024. As a DJ, Wittgenstein plays clubs all over Europe, among others the Ministry of Sound, Brilliant Corners (London), Bob Beaman and Legal (Munich). Wittgenstein composed the music for "One Last Evening" (2023), directed by Lukas Natrath. He also accompanies readings with music, such as the Max Reinhardt readings at the New York Cultural Forum and the Anne Frank Graphic Diaries, which were performed at the Gasteig Cultural Center as part of the Jewish Artists Festival in Munich.