The San Francisco Opera has announced that Bryan Hymel will no longer perform in the upcoming production of Gonoud’s “Roméo et Juliette,” which opens the Company’s 97th season.

The company announced that due to personal reasons the tenor had to bow out of the production, which is also set to star Nadine Sierra. As a result, Samoan-born New Zealand tenor Pene Pati, who was scheduled to sing Romeo on Oct. 1, will perform the role in all performances, replacing Hymel.

Pati will make his role debut as Romeo during the run of performances. The tenor sang the Duke of Mantua in the Company’s 2017 “Rigoletto” and has also performed with New Zealand’s Festival Opera, Opera San José, New Zealand Opera, and Opéra National de Bordeaux. Future plans include house debuts for Washington National Opera, Berlin State Opera, and Wiener Staatsoper.

Roméo et Juliette opens on Sept. 6 and will also star Lucas Meachem, Timothy Mix, James Creswell, Daniel Montenegro, Philip Skinner, and Stephanie Lauricella. Yves Abel will conduct the production by Jean-Louis Grinda.