Tucson song festival tenor answers call for once-in-lifetime opp

Just before the New Year holiday, Korean tenor SeokJong Baek was on a plane from China to Phoenix, routing through LAX, when his phone rang.

It was Peter Gelb, general manager of New York Metropolitan Opera.

The principal tenor singing the role of Radamés in the Met’s new staging of Verdi’s “Aida” was fighting a virus. Could Baek come in and cover?

It had been awhile since Baek had sung the role; he was nowhere near ready. But this was the Met, America’s most prestigious opera house where he had made his debut in 2023.

Despite his insecurities, “I took the risk,” he said. Baek got on a plane that night and headed to New York City. But on opening night on New Year’s Eve, the tenor Piotr Beczala decided to go on.

“Peter told me he was sorry,” Baek recalled during a phone call from a rehearsal break in Phoenix last Friday.

Instead of the Met, Baek returned to Plan A, his role debut as Roldolfo in Arizona Opera’s “La Bohéme.”

“I came back to Arizona and started to have my first rehearsals in Arizona,” said Baek, one of five Tucson Desert Song Festival artists in the production. “And after two days, I got another call from Peter.”

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Beczala coughed his way through opening night and the Met needed a replacement for the next two performances to give the Polish tenor time to recuperate.

Arizona Opera Executive Director Joseph Specter happily agreed to release Baek from those early January rehearsals; “La Bohéme,” part of the 2025 song festival, wasn’t set to open for weeks in Phoenix before coming to Tucson on Saturday, Feb. 1.

“And then I flew to New York again, and I arrived at 2 a.m. in the morning,” he said, adding that he grabbed a few hours of sleep before going to the theater for a run-through rehearsal.

He sang on the Met stage that night, Jan. 4, opposite Desert Song Festival alum soprano Angel Blue. Baek also performed the role on Jan. 7.

“It was like one of the (biggest) challenges of my career, but I’m so glad that I made it,” he said. “And then the audience went wild. They did. They loved it so much.”

Baek returns to the role of Radamés in May with Deutsche Oper Berlin.