December 2001 saw an exciting collaboration between Nagano's two organisations at that time: Los Angeles Opera and Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin:

Plácido Domingo very much wanted to have a première for his first season, but things were so late it was far too late to commission a work.  That year was the Schönberg year (50th anniversary of his death) and Plácido Domingo took the suggestion that since Moses und Aron had been completed in Los Angeles but had never been given a performance there, that maybe we should give it its première.  That would become the symbolic première of that season. 

Then we found out that it was simply too heavy for the budget. But I had been touring Moses und Aron with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, as part of our Schönberg year, and since it was toured and rehearsed and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin was able to supply sponsorship, we were able to co-produce the event.  It ended up to be much less expensive to bring over an entire symphony orchestra and chorus for a concert performance and send them all back again, than it would have been to work up from scratch in Los Angeles, with all the rehearsals that would have been necessary for the tremendous supporting cast of chorus and augmented orchestra.