Legendary Italian conductor Claudio Abbado has announced that he has cancelled planned appearances in New York in October due to ill-health. "Unfortunately I have to resign from my commitments in the near future with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and with the Orchestra Mozart due to health reasons, on my doctor's advice," he said in a statement issued by the Swiss festival.
"I will return to conducting in Bologna in the beginning of November."
Abbado, who had just completed several appearances at the Lucerne Festival in August and September, was due to open the concert season at Carnegie Hall with the festival's orchestra from October 3 to 7.
The 74-year-old former musical director of the Scala of Milan and the Vienna State Opera was treated for cancer in 2000......MORE...


MUSIClassical ALLEGRO
This month, the brilliant Natalie Dessay joins the ranks of Met sopranos who've taken a stab at Donizetti's bel canto thriller, Lucia di Lammermoor.
French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard signs to Deutsche Grammophon...
Pavarotti at Amazon.com
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