FIRST OFF . . .

Performers, conductors and director working at this summer’s Salzburg Festival Saturday protested the banning of director George Tabori’s production of Franz Schmidt’s 1938 oratorio “The Book With Seven Seals” featuring a naked Christ figure and simulated sex acts. The July 28 premiere of Tabori’s version prompted complaints from some audience members and Catholic Church officials that the show was obscene. When Tabori refused to make the changes Salzburg’s Archbishop Karl Berg requested, festival management announced that the five remaining scheduled performances would be merely orchestral versions without acting. Those protesting in support of Tabori were actors Klaus Maria Brandauer and Helmut Lohner, conductors Horst Stein and Hans Graf and directors Johannes Schaaf, Juergen Flimm and Thomas Langhoff.