Pavarotti probably will not attend award ceremony

Luciano Pavarotti probably will not attend an award ceremony in northern Italy Wednesday night that what would have been his first public appearance since cancer surgery last summer, organizers of the event said.

Photo: Pavarotti probably will not attend award ceremony

Last week, the Donizetti Theater in Bergamo said that the opera star was coming to the Bergamo Music Festival to accept the Donizetti Prize.

But a theater spokeswoman, Raffaella Valsecchi, said on Tuesday that organizers had been informed that the "maestro probably won't come." She said that there was a possibility of an audio hookup with Pavarotti.

Valsecchi said she did not immediately have any more specific information about why Pavarotti would not be coming, reports AP.

Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York in July to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass. He had surgery, and all his remaining concerts this year were canceled.

The tenor retired from staged opera in 2004.

Pavarotti was being awarded the Donizetti Prize in recognition of his interpretations of the opera composer's works throughout the world.

On Wednesday evening, Pavarotti's students will sing arias from some of Gaetano Donizetti's operas, including "Anne Boleyn," "Lucrezia Borgia" and "Don Pasquale." Donizetti was born in Bergamo in 1797.