Pavarotti vows to return to stage

Luciano Pavarotti has no intention of letting the curtain fall on his singing days despite 70 years of age and recent surgery for pancreatic cancer.

The tenor made the pledge in an interview published today in an Italian daily.

“I have every intention of returning to singing,” Pavarotti told La Stampa. “I want to finish my tour. I can't give precise dates because I’ll have to discuss it with the doctors, but I think I’ll start again next year,” said the man considered the greatest tenor of his times by many opera buffs.

Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York earlier this month to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass – a kind of cancer that is often considered a death sentence. He underwent surgery in a New York hospital, and all his remaining 2006 concerts were cancelled.

“Better, better, better,” Pavarotti said when asked how he was feeling. “I’m finally at home, my home, finally out of the hospital. What can I say? It’s a marvellous feeling.”