Domingo cries for ill Pavarotti
2006-07-08 09:30
New York - Placido Domingo's eyes welled with tears as he sang before the World Cup soccer final in Berlin, thinking of his Three Tenors colleague Luciano Pavarotti, who was recovering from surgery for pancreatic cancer at a New York hospital.
Friday marked the 16th anniversary of the first concert that Pavarotti, Domingo and Jose Carreras sang together - before a World Cup final in Rome.
"When I was singing the last aria, I couldn't help being quite sad, thinking that Luciano is in this moment suffering," Domingo said after the Berlin performance on Friday night. "It was very, very emotional."
Pavarotti, 70, is battling a kind of cancer that is often considered a death sentence.
But he is recovering well, his manager said, and two cancer experts said surgery offered improved odds for survival.
The tenor of his times to opera buffs, Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York last week to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass, manager Terri Robson said. All his remaining 2006 concerts have been cancelled.
"Fortunately, the mass was able to be completely removed at surgery," she said from her London office.
She told The Associated Press he underwent surgery within the past week at a New York hospital that she declined to identify. He remained hospitalised on Friday.
Diagnosis not good
Because pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, it has one of the worst prognoses of all types of malignancies. Fewer than 4 percent of patients are still alive five years after diagnosis, and the majority die within a year.
But when the cancer is contained and can be surgically removed - as was Pavarotti's - "that means he has a chance for long-term survival," said Dr Dan Laheru, an oncologist at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre in Baltimore.
Current studies show that 15% to 20% of patients with pancreatic cancer who have had surgery are still alive five years after being diagnosed, Laheru said. Of such patients, 63% survive one year and 42% two years.
At an age when most tenors are long retired, Pavarotti's infrequent performances in recent years capped a four-decade career at the pinnacle of the music industry.
Recognisable around the world with his smiling bearded face and heavy bulk, Pavarotti became the most popular opera tenor since Enrico Caruso during a career that began in his native Italy 45 years ago. In his heyday, he was known as the "King of the High C's" for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes, and he turned Nessun dorma, an aria from Puccini's Turandot, into a universally recognised signature piece.
He took advantage of the television age to become a widely marketed artist - especially as one of the Three Tenors who sang together at four World Cup soccer finals.
- AP