The Berlin Philharmonic has announced a cast change for its New Year’s Eve concert.

The orchestra noted, “Georg Zeppenfeld has unfortunately had to cancel his appearance as Hunding in the concert performance of the first act of ‘Die Walküre’ in the remaining two New Year’s Eve concerts of the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Kirill Petrenko.”

It added, “The Berliner Philharmoniker are very grateful to Tobias Kehrer for being able to step in at short notice, and wish Georg Zeppenfeld a speedy recovery.”

The performances will mark Kehrer’s debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. He has been a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin since the 2012/13 season and has performed such roles as Commendatore (“Don Giovanni”), Sarastro (“Die Zauberflöte”), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Fafner (“Das Rheingold”), Hunding (“Die Walküre”), Titurel (“Parsifal”) and Daland (“Der fliegende Holländer”).

He has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Opéra de Paris, and the Teatro alla Scala, among others. 

Kehrer is set to join Jonas Kaufmann and Vida Miknevičiūtė for the Dec. 30 and 31, 2023 performances. Kirill Petrenko conducts the program which will be streamed and broadcast.