Ker-pow! Munich attacks Bayreuth over swastika singer sacking

The peace of German opera was broken this morning when the head of the Bavarian State Opera, Nikolaus Bachler, lashed out at the Wagner sisters who run Bayreuth over the sacking of the swastika- tattooed Russian singer, Yevgeny Nikitin.

‘This is more a problem for Bayreuth than it is for the singer,’ said Bachler. ‘They have a problem with their own history.’

Read on here. Full translation:

“The affair is more a problem for Bayreuth and the Wagner family than for the singer.
It is dishonest that the foolishness of a 16-year-old rock singer, who has long regretted his actions and tried to undo them, is being punished by the Wagner family.
“They are clearly pointing the finger at someone else because they have a problem with their own past.
“Nkitin not only clearly regrets the incident but has expressed repentance as well, repentance that the Wagner family have never expressed in the past 50 years.
“The whole affair is extremely ugly and shows how very much present the past still is.”

Nikitin is due to sing in Munich in November.

Christian Thielemann has also weighed in with a few choice words. He said: ‘a swastika is a problem anywhere, whether in Bayreuth or Australia’. He blamed the singer’s management for not anticipating the problem.