(Credit: Sony Music)

Jonas Kaufmann has withdrawn from the remaining performances of Massenet’s “Werther” at the Royal Opera House.

The company said that for the July 1 performance Francesco Demuro will sing the title role while on July 4, Ioan Hotea will take on the opera.

Demuro made his Covent Garden debut in 2011 in “Gianni Schicchi” and has since performed the role of Alfredo Germont in “La Traviata,” and the Duke of Mantua in “Rigoletto.” Demuro recently performed the role of “Werther” at the Greek National Opera.

Meanwhile, Hotea made his Covent Garden debut in “L’Elisir d’Amore” in 2017 and has since returned to perform Ernesto in “Don Pasquale” in 2019. He has performed the role of Werther at both Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and Oper Frankfurt.

The two tenors join a cast that includes Aigul Akhmetshina as Charlotte as well as Alastair Miles, Gordon Bintner, and Sarah Gilford, among others. Antonio Pappano conducts. 

The news comes days after Kaufmann withdrew from a performance on June 28 due to illness. The tenor returns to the stage on July 8 for a concert at Berlin’s Waldbühne. He is also set to sing at the Concert de Paris on July 14 and at the Festival Aix-en-Provence in the title role of “Otello” on July 17.