Freddie de Tommaso has withdrawn from the First Night of the Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall this evening after testing positive for Covid-19.
The 28-year-old British-Italian tenor – and winner of this year’s BBC Music Magazine Newcomer Award – was due to perform with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the opening night performance of Verdi’s Requiem, alongside fellow soloists, soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston and bass-baritone Kihwan Sim.
He will now be replaced by Korean tenor David Junghoon Kim, who has stepped in at short notice.
The performance, conducted by Sakari Oramo, opens the 2022 season of the BBC Proms, which will run for a full eight weeks following two years of scaled down programming during the pandemic.
