(Photo credit: Sony Music)

The Royal Opera House has announced a cast change for the June 28, 2023 performance of “Werther.”

The company revealed that tenor Jonas Kaufmann has withdrawn from the production due to illness. In his stead, audiences will hear Juan Diego Flórez in the title role.

The Peruvian tenor returns to the Massenet opera after performances at the ROH in 2019. He first performed the role of “Werther” at the Opernhaus Zürich in 2017. At the ROH, Flórez has also  performed in such operas as “La bohème,” “Orphée et Eurydice,” “La Fille du régiment,” “La donna del lago,”” Il barbiere di Siviglia,” and “Mathilde di Shabran” at the Royal Opera House.

Flórez joins a cast starring Aigul Akhmetshina as Charlotte as well as Alastair Miles, Gordon Bintner, and Sarah Gilford, among others. Antonio Pappano conducts. 

“Werther” runs through July 4. As of this writing, the ROH website still indicates that Kaufmann is expected to return for the last two showcases.