(credit: Andrej Stoycher)

John Chest has replaced Luca Pisaroni on Il Pomo d’Oro’s tour of Handel’s “Orlando.”

The tour, which opens on Jan. 9, will be performed in Verona, Paris, Essen, and Madrid and will also star Max Emanuel Cencic in the title role, Kathryn Lewek as Angelica, Francesca Ascioti as Medoro, and Nuria Rial as Dorinda. The tour is set to be recorded for a later CD release.

Chest is a recognized baritone who has performed all around the world in Dresden, San Francisco, Santiago, Madrid, Santa Fe, and Philadelphia, among other cities. This season he performed Guglielmo in “Cosi Fan Tutte” with the Hamburg State Opera and the title role in “Billy Budd” at the San Francisco Opera.

In December he was on tour with Ensemble Pygmalion touring their very successful Mozart disc “Libertà.” He will return to Berlin to continue that tour.