(Credit: LA Opera official website)

Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas has replaced Italian tenor Fabio Sartori in the title role in Wiener Staatsoper’s “Don Carlo” for the remaining two performances on Dec. 22 & 25, 2022.

Sartori withdrew from the production due to illness.

Vargas joins a cast that includes René Pape as Philippo II, Ain Anger as The Grand Inquisitor, María José Siri in the role of Elisabetta di Valois, Boris Pinkhasovich as Rodrigo, Ekaterina Gubanova as Eboli, Isabel Signoret as Tebaldo, Dan Paul Dumitrescu as the Monk, Robert Bartneck as Herold, and Ileana Tonca as the Voice from Heaven. Philippe Jordan conducts a production by Daniele Abbado.

Vargas has performed the role of Don Carlo at major opera houses to a great a claim including the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro Regio di Torino, LA Opera and Opernhaus Zurich.

Sartori is scheduled to go back to the stage for the performances of Puccini’s “Tosca” at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in January and February 2022.