Two prominent German media outlets have come under fire for running "antisemitic" commentaries on Kirill Petrenko, the Russian-born Jew chosen as the next conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.
As a result of the statements made in articles for Northern German Radio (NDR) and Die Welt Online, Mr Petrenko, director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, has refused to give further interviews.
NDR writer Sabine Lange described Mr Petrenko's main competitor for the position, the German-born Christian Thielemann, as a world renowned expert in "the German sound", and Mr Petrenko as "the tiny gnome, the Jewish caricature" from Wagner's operas. Both Mr Petrenko and Mr Thielemann conduct at the Bayreuth Wagner festival.
The apparent juxtaposition of "good, pure German" and "defective Jew" did not go unnoticed by incensed readers.
