Nikitin to appear in Met Opera’s Parsifal

27 July 2012, 15:44 | Updated: 27 July 2012, 17:00

After a controversial week that saw him ousted from the Bayreuth Festival over his swastika tattoos, opera star Yevgeny Nikitin is to return to the stage

Yevgeny Nikitin’s thoroughly bad week has ended with some good news. He is now scheduled to sing the part of Klingsor in the Metropolitan Opera’s forthcoming performance of Wagner’s Parsifal.

The Russian opera singer was taken out of the Bayreuth Festival due to controversy over his Nazi swastika tattoos on his body that, he said, were applied when he was a teenager: “I was not aware of the extent of the irritation and offense these signs and symbols would cause, particularly in Bayreuth given the context of the festival's history.”

The re-instatement into normal performance will be a welcome relief to Nikitin, who has been the subject of hot debate in the opera world. As we reported yesterday, plenty of discussion between festival organisers, conductors and other performers has taken place.

The Met’s Parsifal is due to begin in February, and will star Jonas Kaufman in the lead role.