‘A scandal? No, joy. Exuberant joy’ was the verdict of the Süddeutsche Zeitung after the premiere of SANCTA in Schwerin. Florentina Holzinger's opera combines Paul Hindemith's one-act Sancta Susanna with elements of Catholic liturgy to create a radical new vision of the ritual of Holy Mass. Together with his performers, Holzinger engages in spectacular physical experiments at the limits of the possible, exploring individual spirituality and faith, sexuality and pain, shame and liberation. Religious magic and miracles are reinterpreted in an ecstatic celebration of community and self-determination, in which J.S. Bach meets metal, the Weather Girls meet Rachmaninov - and naked nuns meet roller skates.