SeokJong Baek Joins CAVELLERIA RUSTICANA/ PAGLIACCI at Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House today announces that sadly Jonas Kaufmann has withdrawn from all performances of Cavalleria rusticana. Mr. Kaufmann is continuing to recover from COVID-19 and is not well enough to sing the remaining performances.

SeokJong Baek will sing the role of Turiddu in the remaining performances of Cavalleria rusticana following critical acclaim at opening night.

Roberto Alagna will sing the role of Canio in Pagliacci on Monday 11 July, and Italian tenor Fabio Sartori will sing the role of Canio in the remaining performances on 14, 17 and 20 July.

In his 30-year career, French-Sicilian tenor Roberto Alagna has sung more than 60 roles. For The Royal Opera he has sung Calaf, Manrico, Nemorino, Rodolfo, Roméo, Don Carlos, Cavaradossi, Faust, Don José, Radames and Andrea Chénier, appearing in more than 100 performances with the Company. Recent appearances elsewhere include the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Liceu Barcelona and Paris Opéra.

Fabio 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.

Following five-star reviews, the rest of the cast remains the same with Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano conducting Aleksandra Kurzak (Santuzza/Nedda) and Dimitri Platanias (Alfio/Tonio) in the main roles.