An opera branded blasphemous for its graphic parody of Catholic worship has been voted “Production of the Year” by critics in Germany, less than twelve months after it left some members of its audience needing medical treatment.
The announcement came on 28 August that Florentina Holzinger’s Sancta, which premiered at the Stuttgart State Opera in October 2024, had been named Inszenierungdes Jahres (Production of the Year) by theatre critics in Germany.
It won the accolade after being selected by nine out of 47 critics, more than any other production in the running, in a survey conducted by the specialist journal Theaterheute. The production, which mixes Catholic ritual with nudity, violence, sex and vulgarity, has drawn fierce criticism for its treatment of the sacred.
