Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Russian baritone claims tattoo not a swastika

NEW YORK -- After withdrawing from the Bayreuth Wagner Festival following the appearance of a tattoo during a program on German television, Russian bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin says the image was not a swastika.

The 38-year-old dropped out of a new production of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman last month after the program on which the tattoo was revealed was broadcast. He remains scheduled to sing Klingsor in a new production of Wagner's Parsifal that opens at New York's Metropolitan Opera on Feb. 15 next year.

In a statement released Wednesday through the Met, Nikitin said, "It is inaccurate to state that I ever had a swastika tattoo." He said the tattoo photographed in 2008 "was still in progress at the time" and was a star with eight points with a shield overlaid.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 3, 2012 D2

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