Evgeny Nikitin went from heavy metal to opera.
During his long singing life, Yevgeny Nikitin has gone from a young heavy metal singer into a star in the opera world. A bass-baritone, Nikitin’s body is decorated with yards upon yards of tattoos inked when he was a much younger man, and those tattoos caught up with him. Yevgeny Nikitin was kicked out of the Bayreuth festival dedicated to Richard Wagner’s work because he has Nazi-related tattoos on his chest. That’s right, a festival dedicated to a known anti-Semite just kicked out an apparent Nazi sympathizer.
Of course, Nikitin claims ignorance.
“I was not aware of the extent of the irritation and offence these signs and symbols would cause, particularly in Bayreuth given the context of the festival’s history. I had them done in my youth. It was a big mistake and I wish I’d never done it. It was not clear to me that the symbols that I have tattooed on my chest could have any connotations or even by used by Nazis and neo-Nazis,” claimed Yevgeny Nikitin, who was due to open the festival by singing the lead in The Flying Dutchman.
Do you buy that excuse? Granted, he grew up in the Soviet Union, but surely even they know what the deal is with all those Nazi symbols. I can understand claiming ignorance about the SS life rune; that seems like something you’d have to be a hardcore Nazi to identify. But the swastika? Everyone knows what that means these days!
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