Hymel Out of San Francisco Opera Roméo et Juliette

Back in January, I expressed some....concerns...about the casting for San Francisco Opera's opening work, Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. I heard a couple of weeks back that Bryan Hymel was present, singing, and sounding good; then, last week, the rumors started, and now:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 3, 2019) — San Francisco Opera today announced a cast change for Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette), which opens the Company’s 97th season on September 6, 2019 and runs for seven performances through October 1 at the War Memorial Opera House. Samoan-born New Zealand tenor Pene Pati, originally scheduled to sing Romeo on October 1, will perform the role in all performances, replacing Bryan Hymel who has withdrawn for personal reasons.

Pati makes his role debut as Romeo, one of the great lyric roles of the French repertory, opposite 2017 Richard Tucker Award-winning soprano Nadine Sierra (who adds Juliet to her gallery of San Francisco Opera heroines, which includes the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor). As previously scheduled, for the final performance on October 1 the role of Juliet will be performed by Egyptian-born New Zealand soprano Amina Edris, marking a rare instance when a husband-wife duo (Pati and Edris) will perform opposite each other in the title roles. The three artists, all making role debuts with this production, are alumni of the Merola Opera Program (Pati 2013; Sierra 2010; Edris 2015) and San Francisco Opera‘s Adler Fellowship Program (Pati 2016, 2017; Sierra 2011, 2012; Edris 2016, 2017).

My personal record with this very talented singer:

• I heard him at San Francisco Opera in the opening and closing performances of Les Troyens, the Troy scenes of a third, and Cory Bix at a third complete performance.
• Cancelled Raoul in Les Huguenots in Paris, October, 2018.
• Cancelled Enée in Les Troyens in Paris, February, 2019.
• Cancelled Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, San Francisco, September, 2019.