Metropolitan Opera Unveils Cast Change for AIDA January Performances

Tenor SeokJong Baek will sing the role of Radamès in the January 4 and 7 performances of Verdi’s Aida, replacing Piotr Beczała, who has withdrawn due to illness. 

Earlier this season, Baek sang Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca. He made his Met debut last season singing Ismaele in Verdi’s Nabucco, and he has also sung Calàf in Puccini’sTurandot with the company. 

Recent performances elsewhere include Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Radamès, Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, and Samson in Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila at Covent Garden and Calàf in Florence, Naples, and Prague. Later this year, he will appear as Radamès at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

On the concert stage, Baek recently made debuts with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Antonio Pappano, as well as with the Royal Danish Orchestra. Other highlights include festival debuts at the Lanaudière Festival in a concert performance of Aida conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and at the BBC Proms in Verdi’s Requiem, as well as appearances with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, alongside mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča.

The Met is very grateful to Arizona Opera for releasing Mr. Baek from rehearsals so that he can perform on January 4 and 7.

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