South Korean tenor SeokJong Baek made his debut with The Royal Opera in the 2021/22 season as Samson (Samson et Dalila), and has since returned for Cavaradossi (Tosca), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana) and Samson. Recent engagements include house debuts at the Chicago Lyric Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper and Maggio Musicale, Florence, as well as returns to the Metropolitan Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin. During COVID-19, he transitioned from baritone to tenor; as a baritone, he was an Adler Fellow and a member of the Merola Programme at the San Francisco Opera, as well as a former resident artist of Lyric Opera of Kansas and an alumnus of the Manhattan School of Music. Engagements for 2026/27 include his role debut as Dick Johnson (La Fanciulla del West) at the Metropolitan Opera, house debuts with Semperoper Dresden and Dutch National Opera as Cavaradossi and Turiddu respectively and returns to the Metropolitan Opera for Cavaradossi and Radamès (Aida).