Jorge de León heroically stepped in for an afternoon performance of “Madama Butterfly” on Jan. 13, 2019.

The Spanish tenor, who performed in the premiere performance the night before, was forced to take over for an ailing Rame Lahaj. The Gran Teatre del Liceu announced that Lahaj was unable to perform due to faringitis.

De León recently revealed that he would be making his role debut as “Otello” later this season and the Metropolitan Opera announced that he would step in for Aleksandrs Antonenko in March performances of “Aida.” The tenor has a full slate this season performing “Pagliacci” and “Cavalleria Rusticana” at the Teatro Carlo Felice and he will also be in “Manon Lescaut” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Rame Lahaj is set to return on Jan. 16 and sing in four remaining shows. De León also has four more presentations with his cast.

“Madama Butterfly” runs through Jan. 29 with Lianna Haroutounian, Maria Teresa Leva, and Ainhoa Arteta rotating the title role.