In compensation, according to local paper L'Eco di Bergamo, the 71-year-old tenor will speak over the telephone with Bergamo Music Festival director Francesco Bellotto, who will record a message from Pavarotti and play it to this evening's audience; this will be followed by the festival's final concert, of young singers selected and coached by the tenor performing arias from Donizetti operas. (The composer was born in Bergamo in 1797.)

To the Italian media, Pavarotti has attributed his cancellation to complications with his gradual recuperation. "I am improving, but I only got out of bed yesterday and I'm not yet in a state to travel," the newspaper La Stampa quotes him as saying. "However, I am recovering. I have finished the chemotherapy, and it seems that all is going well. Now it's a matter of fighting to get back into the condition I was in before."

But his manager in London released a statement yesterday, quoted by Reuters and the Associated Press, saying that "Luciano Pavarotti recently completed his medical treatment and couldn't be happier with his results and progress."

Terri Robson's statement also emphasized that "Maestro Pavarotti's first public appearance since undergoing surgery will, in fact, be at a major charity event in 2007, details of which are to be released soon."