"Nazi symbol" singer kicked out of Bayreuth

It seems not everyone cares for Evgeny Nikitin's tattoos, as pictured in the post below.

Just five days before the premiere of the new Bayreuth production of Der Fliegende Holländer, Festival management have sent him home after taking exception to an alleged Nazi symbol on his upper body.

Looking at a recent photo of Nikitin (above), it's hard to understand what the problem is.

But an older shot, taken during his days as a heavy metal drummer (below) gives a clue. Beneath what is now a colourful coat-of-arms lies something that looks like a swastika - in other words, an embarrassing mistake that he's now covered up.

Whether this is indicative of Nikitin's current or past political opinions is something only he himself could confirm.

But his tattoos have never been any secret. He has sung in all the world's major houses, including Covent Garden and the Met, and nobody to my knowledge has ever complained about them or suggested that he holds any unsavoury beliefs. Of course the tattoos are generally covered up for aesthetic reasons, but in some productions he has openly flaunted them. Thousands of people have seen them. No-one has said anything.

Bayreuth's sudden decision is bizarre. Not just because it appears to relate to a problem that no longer exists. And not just because the evidence was available long before they booked him. It's bizarre because Bayreuth have actively centred pre-production marketing around ....Nikitin's tattoos.

You can see the TV interview which allegedly alerted Festival management to the problem here. A brief section (lifted from this old video) shows the younger Nikitin barechested at the drums.

Nikitin's parting shot: "I did not realise how much irritation and injury such signs and symbols could cause, particularly at the Bayreuth Festival. I had these tattoos done when I was young. It was one of the great mistakes of my life and I wish I had never done it."

Comments

[Justin Chapman]

Seems odd, given that the Festival has been run by Nazis...

[Mark]

I thought that if you choose to get rid of or cover up something then it is gone. And given there is as much (or more) pain involved in getting rid of it as there was in getting it in the first place, then you wouldn't enter into that lightly would you?

Still, it is understandable that the Festspiele management are a bit sensitive about these kind of issues, but it's rather more to do with the history of the festival than what Mr Nikitin may have done.

And while I couldn't hear all of the interview, it's good to hear someone talking about the link between opera and heavy metal. As a serious fan of both there are definitely connections.
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Intermezzo replies - The problem to my mind is not that Festspiele management are sensitive - they're entitled to be. The problem is that they've chosen to express their sensitivity publicly on the day of the dress rehearsal after encouraging Nikitin to drum up publicity by showing off his tattoos. If they're that bothered, they should have done their research and simply not engaged him in the first place.

[Laura]

Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to think...

On the one hand, I believe in second chances, especially if the swastika (which it clearly was) has been covered up.

On the other hand, he must have either held despicable views at some point earlier in his life or he must have been utterly ignorant of twentieth-century history. I can't exactly blame Bayreuth - which remains such a charged place in this respect - for firing him.
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Intermezzo replies - And yet the Bayreuth Festival continues to perform the works of a vehement and unrepentant anti-semite. Is it not a tad hypocritical to forgive/excuse one, but not the other?

[SJT]

This is all very strange. For starters, I assumed that the original tattoo pictures were actually transfer fakes plastered on him specifically FOR the Dutchman staging (it would hardly be the first time something off-the-wall had occurred at Bayreuth, now would it?). God knows I've seen him often enough on stage and in concert, most recently at the Barbican in April for the Kirov Parsifal. I never noticed a thing on his hands then (and I would have at such close quarters) nor during the Kirov Ring at Covent Garden when I was in Stalls Circle Row A halfway down the sides towards the stage. Presumably, therefore - and like his compatriot Polunin - he's been the object of much camouflage makeup whenever I've seen him. So why not this time?

As for the Swastika/Haakenkreuz, either I'm going blind or someone's having the fancies, because how anyone can make out, in that hideous migraine-inducing gallimaufray of technicolour tat that he's sporting one, God knows. He should have stood his ground and submitted to a level of personal scrutiny not often afforded mere bass-baritones. Does Terfel's resemblance to Meatloaf warrant further examination, I wonder?

[KM]

Nikitin and Polunin are not compatriots. The latter is Ukrainian.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Both Nikitin and Bayreuth are hoist by their own petards here, because they foolishly thought that publicity accrued about his tatts would somehow prove how "cool" and "youthful" opera and Wagner is. Nikitin clearly knew that the swastika had to be covered up for publicity purposes, but with the internet revealing what it used to look like - and there is the not insignificant matter of the upside down "Peace" symbol, which keen-eyed German spotters in the press have identified as another Nazi icon - more fool him, and Bayreuth, for trying to exploit the tats. Bayreuth's association with the Nazis is poison for the festival even today. Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner spent half a century trying to wipe the slate clean and Wolfgang banned his own mother - Hitler's friend Winifred - from appearing anywhere near the Festspielhaus when she gave her notorious television interview to Syberberg in which she remembered what a nice man Hitler was in private. It's no surprise that Katharina Wagner has so little sense of this history that she is prepared to take such PR risks, but when this all came out on German television - the internet can still be dismissed as gossip - they hardly had any option but to let Nikitin go. Bayreuth's past Nazi associations are still a big deal in Germany, and symbolism, as we know from Regietheater productions, still counts for a lot, there.

[shavedhead]

For me this situation seems pretty strange. Many people are experimenting with different questionable things when they are young. And if 15-years old full covered and eliminated by this time swastika tattoo is the real reason of cancelling Nikitin's engagement I would like to mention that Bayreuth festival management is insane, but if it's not I want to know the real reason.

[A Facebook User]

I wish this thread became the reverse of Goodwin's Law and we ended up talking about the gorgeous summer day we had today or something.

[Andres]

A "Facebook user"?? I want my name back

[Rose-Mary Hyslop]

The Wagners have so much embarrassing history to make up for the Maestro's objectionable views, Winnie's friendship with the Fuhrer, the annex at their Bayreuth home for Hitler's exclusive use....This over- reaction doesn't surprise me for a moment.

[Les Mitchell]

This baritone has sung at the Met. I think it's a fairly safe bet that he will not appear there in the future, given the huge numbers of Jewish subscribers and donors in New York. Moreover, he could have had all the tattoos removed. It may be a painful procedure, but it may prove necessary if he is to continue his career.
The Nazi legacy has been the Bayreuth curse since World War II ended, and it still is very much in evidence. The Swastika stands as the symbol of the Nazi Party, and is still known as the personification of the Third Reich, which was responsible for the deaths of 13 million people (6 million of which were Jewish).
Mr. Nitikin has got TONS of damage-control to deal with, and he's not going to have an easy time of it. One need only remember the hell and torture that the sublime Kirsten Flagstad experienced in the United States after World War II --------- an she was completely innocent. She merely exercised poor judgement by returning to Norway during World War II. Her uphill battle to re-establish herself was a testimony to her determination to prove her innocence. The episode marked her for the rest of her life.

[Emil Archambault]

Nikitin is scheduled to sing in Parsifal next year at the Met. We shall see!

As for removing the tattoo, he has had it covered completely (see first photo). The controversy is about a tattoo he had years ago, not a tattoo he has now. There was absolutely no risk he would flash a Swastika at the Bayreuth audience, making his dismissal even more absurd.