Ailing Claudio Abbado Cancels Salzburg Concerts

By Ben Mattison
February 17, 2006

Conductor Claudio Abbado has canceled two concerts in Salzburg in June on the advice of his doctors, the Salzburger Nachrichten reports.

No further information about Abbado's condition was given. The 72-year-old conductor survived a battle with stomach cancer in 2000.

Abbado was scheduled to lead the Orchestra Mozart on June 3 and 4 at the Salzburg Pfingstfestpiele, or Pentecost Festival. The orchestra, which was founded by Abbado in Bologna in 2004, has been replaced on the schedule by Philippe Herreweghe and the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées on June 3 and by Paul McCreesh's Gabrieli Players on June 4. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff is the soloist in the former concert; pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque will appear in the latter.