Heiligenkreuz Abbey - Media

Media

• In November 2002 Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, nephew of reigning abbot Gregor Henckel Donnersmarck, wrote the screenplay for his film The Lives of Others in a cell at the abbey. After the film won the 2007 Oscar in the category "Best Foreign Film", he returned for a celebration at Heiligenkreuz with the statue on 28 October.

• In April 2008, some of the monks from Heiligenkreuz abbey recorded a CD of Gregorian plainsong, which was released on May 19 on Universal Classics under the title Chant: Music For Paradise (titled Chant: Music for the Soul in the United States). A digital single from the album, "Hymnus 'Veni Creator Spiritus'" was released on May 12. The monks signed the deal with Universal Music after the label had advertised their search for sacred singers and the monks submitted their demo via YouTube. The album quickly went gold in the UK and Germany, platinum in Belgium and Poland, and triple platinum in Austria. In February 2009 the monks were nominated Best Newcomer (International) for the German ECHO Awards (alongside pop-stars like Leona Lewis and Gabriella Cilmi) and the recording was nominated Album of the Year by the Classical Brits 2009.

• In December 2010 HBO premiered a documentary Top Ten Monks, which profiles the monks and tells the story of their album and their lives in the monastery.

• In the autumn of 2011 the community released a new album Chant: Amor Et Passio under their own label Obsculta Music which quickly went gold.