Maestro Gergiev said...

Maestro Gergiev : great conductor whom I highly respect mentioned that  ‘Nikitin will not stop singing in Wagner’s operas ‘ in  the interview article of DW.

" What happened to Evgeny Nikitin in Bayreuth is, in my opinion, in no way flattering for the Bayreuth Festival. I still haven’t heard anything regarding the festival leadership’s actual position on the issue. Nikitin is an extremely gifted singer. He has nothing to do with Nazi symbolism and certainly nothing to do with Nazi ideology. His family suffered greatly during World War II, and both of his grandfathers died in the war. He comes from St. Petersburg, a city that suffered Nazi crimes like no other.

I think my colleagues in Bayreuth handled the fate of this young singer from Russia without much sympathy and perhaps not entirely honestly. But Nikitin is not going to be the victim in this affair. He will certainly not stop singing Wagner operas, particularly since he’s so good at it. I think that most professionals in Germany have noticed that by now. So Evgeny Nikitin will continue to sing in Berlin, in Munich, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and, of course, here in the Mariinsky Theater. "

16/10/2012