ITALY/ FILE: Italian tenor Pavarotti admitted to hospital in Modena

Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, regarded by many as the greatest tenor of his generation and one of the most famous opera singers of all time, has been admitted to a hospital in Modena, Italy. Opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti, diagnosed with cancer last year, has been admitted to hospital where he was described as being in a "satisfactory" condition, doctors said on Thursday (August 9). Pavarotti, regarded by many as the greatest tenor of his generation, was taken to hospital with a fever in his home town of Modena on Wednesday, where he was being treated in the cancer ward. A hospital spokesman said he was likely to be discharged in the next few days. The hospital declined to comment on a newspaper report that the singer, who had surgery to remove a pancreatic tumour in July 2006, was suffering from pneumonia. The spokesman said there would be no further announcements on Thursday. Pavarotti's wife Nicoletta Mantovani visited him on Thursday at the Policlinico hospital, where hallways and his ward were blocked off by private guards. She declined to speak to reporters waiting outside. A nurse told reporters that the tenor had a "big desire" to get better, ANSA news agency reported. Cancer surgery forced Pavarotti to cancel the remaining dates of his 2006 farewell opera tour. The 71-year-old had vowed to return to the stage this year, but he has not been seen in public since the operation and called off a number of appearances in the past few months. Il Resto del Carlino, a daily newspaper serving the region around Modena, wrote that Pavarotti's condition had deteriorated in recent days and he was suffering from a bout of pneumonia. Since his operatic debut in 1961, the rotund, black-bearded tenor has become one of the most recognised classical musicians in the world, regularly gracing the stage at New York's Metropolitan Opera, London's Covent Garden and Milan's La Scala. His fame grew when he sang the "Nessun Dorma" aria from Giacomo Puccini's opera "Turandot" at the soccer World Cup in Italy in 1990 alongside Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras.

ITN Source | August 9, 2007

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