The Aussie Heldentenor has withdrawn from his debut performance in Wagner role due to health concerns.

Australian Heldentenor Stuart Skelton has been forced to withdraw from his debut performance in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra due to health reasons. He will be replaced by Canadian tenor Lance Ryan.

“Stuart has been suffering from a severe chest infection, which was further exacerbated by complications, which have hindered his preparations for the performance” a Sydney Symphony Orchestra statement said. “Whilst he has now made a full recovery, Stuart felt it was in the best interests of the opera and the orchestra to withdraw.”

“I am absolutely devastated that I cannot perform in Tristan und Isolde with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and my good friend, SSO Chief Conductor David Robertson,” Skelton says. “I was so looking forward to performing my debut in the role of Tristan on home soil.”

Lance Ryan

Lance Ryan has been officially announced as Skelton’s successor for the performance. The Canadian is of the world’s most sought-after heldentenors, and has performed many of the leading tenor roles in the major Wagner operas. Ryan is particularly renowned for his performances of Siegfried in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, most recently appearing at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Last year Ryan also made his debut as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde with Oper Frankfurt.

Sydney audiences will still be able to see Stuart Skelton in performance with the SSO in 2015 when he performs in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, conducted by SSO Chief Conductor David Robertson, in October. Baden-Baden will now have the honour of hosting Skelton in his debut performance of Tristan next year alongside Eva-Maria Westbroek, followed by appearances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera where he opens the 2016/17 season opposite Swedish dramatic soprano Nina Stemme and a new staging at London’s English National Opera where his Isolde will be Heidi Melton.