(Credit: Julian Baumann)

During a performance of Puccini’s “Tosca” at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden on Dec. 8, 2021, tenor Bryan Hymel developed vocal issues and needed to be replaced in the role of Mario Cavaradossi.

British tenor Freddie de Tommaso was in the opera house and quickly took over in the Second Act of the opera. De Tommaso broke two significant records as he became the first British tenor to sing the role of Cavaradossi in “Tosca” at Covent Garden in almost 60 years, and the youngest tenor to ever take on the role at the Royal Opera House.

De Tommaso is a fast-rising young tenor who has performed at the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro di San Carlo, De Nationale Opera, and Munich Opera Festival, among others. The tenor is scheduled to appear in the role of Macduff in Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Wiener Staatsoper and Bayerische Staatsoper in January, April, and May 2022. He will also perform the role of Maurizio in Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” at the Teatro alla Scala in March 2022.

Hymel is slated to return to the stage for a performance of “Tosca” at the Royal Opera House on Dec. 11, 2021. Hymel will alternate with De Tommaso in the role of Cavaradossi until Dec. 22, 2021.