Due to a family emergency, Italian tenor Fabio Sartori has had to withdraw from the role of Canio in “Pagliacci” at the Royal Opera House.

As a result Bryan Hymel will perform the role on Dec. 2, 6 and 9. It will mark his role debut. Hymel will also add Turiddu to his debut and he will become yet another tenor in history to perform the famous double bill.

Hymel made his Royal Opera debut in 2010 as Don José in “Carmen” and has since sung Prince in “Rusalka,” Aeneas in “Les Troyens,” the title role of “Robert le diable,” Henri in “Les Vêpres siciliennes,” Don José and “Don Carlo” for the Company. Earlier in the 2017/18 Season he returned to sing Henri for The Royal Opera.

Recent engagements elsewhere include Don José, Alfredo Germont in “La traviata” and Faust in “La Damnation de Faust” for Paris Opéra, Pinkerton in “Madama Butterfly” for La Scala, Milan, Arnold in “Guillaume Tell” and Rodolfo in “La Bohème” for the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and Duke of Mantua in “Rigoletto” for Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The rest of the cast will not change for the performances. Sartori returns to the production on Dec. 12.