Tour boycott
June 18, 2011
Some of Germany's top classical musicians may boycott a concert tour of Japan scheduled for later this year due to fears of radiation leakage from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Kent Nagano, orchestra conductor of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, said on Friday that he had tried to reassure reluctant musicians that they would be safe throughout the tour during a "very tense" and emotional opera-house staff meeting.
Nagano, an American of Japanese descent, and opera manager Nikolaus Bachler traveled to Japan in early June to get a feel for the situation there. They announced on Wednesday that the tour would continue as planned, but have received resistance from some musicians.
Bachler reportedly told the company that the tour was part of their salaried employment, but that he would permit unpaid leave during the tour for those who refused to go.
The Bavarian State Opera, a state-subsidized company and one of Germany's most prestigious, plans to fly 400 instrumentalists, singers, stagehands and secretaries to Japan for the tour.
Ten performances are scheduled between September 12 and October 12, including Richard Wagner's Lohengrin featuring star tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the title role.
Radiation stops cleanup
Spokesman Christoph Koch said the opera management would accept applications for unpaid leave until the end of next week. It was unclear how many company members would opt out of the tour.
The safety of the Fukushima nuclear power plant was thrown into question again on Saturday when the Tokyo Electric Power Co opted to suspend an operation to clean highly contaminated waste water due to higher-than-expected radiation levels.
The procedure was stopped just hours after it started after the radiation level of a component meant to absorb radioactive caesium reached its limit and needed to be replaced, a TEPCO spokesperson said.
It remains unclear when the cleaning operation will resume.
Author: Andrew Bowen, Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (dpa, AFP)
Editor: Kyle James