Jonas Kaufmann Withdraws From Opening Performance of CAVELLERIA RUSTICA / PAGLIACCI

The Royal Opera House announced today that sadly Jonas Kaufmann has withdrawn from the opening performance of CAVELLERIA RUSTICA / PAGLIACCI on Tuesday 5 July 2022. He has also withdrawn from all further performances of PAGLIACCI in this double bill. This is due to suffering from Covid and the impact this has on his voice. They hope that Mr. Kaufmann will be well enough to sing the role of Turiddu in CAVELLERIA RUSTICANA in the later performances of this run.

SeokJong Baek will sing the role of Turiddu in CAVELLERIA RUSTICANA on Tuesday 5 July 2022 - making his role debut alongside Aleksandra Kurzak (Santuzza), Dimitri Platanias (Alfio) and Aigul Akhmetshina (Lola), conducted by Antonio Pappano. The South Korean tenor recently won great plaudits for his fantastic title role performance in Richard Jones' new production of Samson et Dalila - and was described by the Guardian as having made 'a mightily impressive Royal Opera stage debut'.

Italian tenor Fabio Sartori will sing the role of Canio in PAGLIACCI for all performances in the run, singing opposite Ermonela Jaho (Nedda), Dimitri Platanias (Tonio) and Mattia Olivieri (Silvio). Sartori made his Royal Opera debut in the 2017/18 Season as Canio (Pagliacci) and has also performed at La Scala, Milan, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zürich Opera House, Vienna State Opera and Berlin State Opera.

The rest of the cast remains unchanged.