Director Jan Schmidt-Garre embarks on a »search for the sacred fire of song,« as the subtitle of his film reveals. With «Fuoco Sacro« he portrays three outstanding female sopranos who could not be more different: Barbara Hannigan, Ermonela Jaho and Asmik Grigorian. A film about three great singers and at the same time a film about the heart of opera.

In his projects, director Jan Schmidt-Garre always deals with the human voice and in this film, he explores the question of what expressive singing on stage is all about and what it does to us. The goal of the film goes beyond a study of expressive singing. It explores the emotional and dramatic possibilities of the human voice through the examples of Jaho, Hannigan, Grigorian and their predecessors, and confronts the audience with the life-changing power of singing in unusual ways.

 The Canadian singer and conductor Barbara Hannigan fascinated us in her artistic double role live at the Ludwigsburg Festival on June 24 with »Hannigan Strauss Poulenc«.

We would like to thank Jan Schmidt-Garre for providing the film on the Digital Stage of the Ludwigsburg Festival.

© Director: Jan Schmidt-Garre

Producers: Marieke Schroeder & Jan Schmidt-Garre

Camera: Thomas Bresinsky

Editing: Sarah J. Levine

A co-production of PARS Media with Bayerischer Rundfunk. In collaboration with Arte, NRK, SVT, Naxos Audiovisual and Versión Digital.