Singer with swastika tattoo scheduled for Met

The singer who quit the Bayreuth opera festival when it emerged he once had at least one Nazi-related symbol tattooed on his body remains scheduled to sing a new production of Wagner's "Parsifal" at the Metropolitan Opera next season.

Evgeny Nikitin withdrew from Bayreuth's Richard Wagner Festival after a German television program broadcast Friday showed old footage of the bass-baritone bare-chested playing drums in a rock band, in which a swastika tattoo partly covered by another symbol could be seen.

Met spokesman Peter Clark said Wednesday that Nikitin is scheduled to sing in the production in February as Klingsor, and his status hasn't been reviewed.

The Associated Press