More than six decades into her storied career, Barbra Streisand is still finding ways to challenge herself. The legend has recorded a new song, “Love Will Survive,” for the upcoming Sky/Peacock original series The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
The track recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by William Ross) was composed by two-time Oscar-winner Hans Zimmer in collaboration with Emmy-nominee Kara Talve (Prehistoric Planet) and Grammy-winning producer/songwriter Walter Afanasieff (Mariah Carey); the song’s lyrics were penned by Grammy and Golden Globe nominee Charlie Midnight; Afanasieff and Peter Asher produced the track.
“Because of the rise in antisemitism around the world today, I wanted to sing ‘Love Will Survive’ in the context of this series, as a way of remembering the six-million souls who were lost less than 80 years ago,” Streisand said in a statement. “And also to say that even in the darkest of times, the power of love can triumph and endure.”
The song, Streisand’s first-ever recording for a TV series, will be released by Columbia Records on April 25, a week before the series launches globally on streaming on May 2. Zimmer also composed the original score for the six-part limited series starring Harvey Keitel, Melanie Lynskey, Jonah Hauer-King, Anna Próchniak and Jonas Nay.
The series tells the story of a Slovakian Jewish man, Lali (Hauer-King), who in 1942 was deported to the Nazi death camp where more than one million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. According to a summary, the drama series follows Lali as he is made one of the camp’s Tätowierer (tattooist), whose job it is to ink identification numbers on the arms of fellow prisoners. It then follows Lali as he falls for fellow prisoner, Gita (Próchniak), “leading to a love that defied the horrors around them.”
The story shifts 60 years into the future to find the now 80-something recently widowed Lali meeting an aspiring writer, Heather Morris (Lynskey) to whom he tells his improbable story of finding love in the “darkest of places.”
“Barbra Streisand is one of the most renowned artists in the world, and we are deeply honoured to be working with her,” Synchronicity Films executive producer Claire Mundell said in a statement. “Barbra and her team have crafted the most beautiful song, based on Hans’ and Kara’s main theme for the show, and it sums up the key message of the series – love will survive. Recording the song with Barbra’s iconic vocals and William Ross conducting the LSO at Abbey Road Studios was an unforgettable moment and a memory I will treasure forever. We are thrilled to be able to honour the memory of Lali and Gita in this way, with this beautiful original piece of music.”
The series will be available beginning May 2nd on Sky Atlantic and the NOW streaming service in the UK and Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as Peacock in the U.S. and Stan in Australia.
