Sancta - Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (2026) - Sancta - Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (2026)

Description

Revival.

In October 2025, Austrian director and choreographer Florentina Holzinger took on Sancta Susanna, Paul Hindemith's miniature opera composed in 1922 (lasting 30 minutes), to create Sancta, a performance piece lasting over two hours, presented at the Stuttgart Opera.

In its time, Sancta Susanna caused a scandal due to its subject matter (a nun awakening to sexuality), and Florentina Holzinger offers a provocative and feminist interpretation, blending Hindemith's music with liturgical music, pop, and metal, thus creating a "new celebration of the Mass," in which her performers "reclaim and redefine the pain, shame, and guilt suffered by women in the Catholic tradition." Florentina Holzinger presents Sancta as “a theatrical manifesto on spiritual and sexual liberation, on female power and solidarity, (...) an ecstatic celebration where conventions are swept aside – and where nuns can joyfully sing on roller skates.”

From April 4 to 9, 2026, Florentina Holzinger’s production of Sancta will be revived by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

More information is available on the Opera’s official website.