Aussie Heldentenor Stuart Skelton was flown in at the last minute to save the Mariinsky’s Valkyrie after Kaufmann fell ill.

It’s always problematic when a big box-office draw falls ill and has to be replaced at the last moment – especially when it’s someone with a superstar reputation, like tenor Jonas Kaufmann. However, when the German opera singer had to withdraw suddenly from the opening night concert performance of Wagner’s Die Walküre – which was to be his German debut in the opera – at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Australia’s most successful heldentenor, Stuart Skelton, was able to step in and steal the show.

Kaufmann had been having trouble with his voice at the dress rehearsal, and it soon became apparent he wouldn’t be able to sing the mammoth role of Siegmund at the opening night performance. Rushing in from London, where he recently performed Tristan in the English National Opera’s Tristan and Isolde, Skelton apparently arrived at the venue with minutes to spare.

Skelton’s performance as Siegmund, with Valery Gergiev conducting Mariinsky Orchestra, received rave reviews in the German press, the Baden-Baden audience already familiar with his work from his performance of Tristan at the Easter Festival earlier this year.

Skelton is an experienced Siegmund, and has covered Kaufmann in the role before, filling in for a performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2012.

On medical advice, Kaufmann was forced to withdraw from the second scheduled Baden-Baden performance, with Austrian tenor Andreas Schager taking over on July 10.