Tenor Stephen Gould says he has been diagnosed with incurable bile duct cancer

By The Associated Press on September 6, 2023.

Tenor Stephen Gould says he has been diagnosed with incurable bile duct cancer.

Gould withdrew this summer from the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, where he was to have sung the title roles in “Tannhäuser” and “Tristan und Isolde” and Siegfried in “Götterdämmerung.”

Gould said in a statement Wednesday that he has bile duct cancer with complications. He said it is fatal with “an outlook of several months to 10 months,” he wrote. “There is no cure.”

Gould said he made the announcement after the Bayreuth Festival ended last week because “I did not wish anything to cloud this years achievements.”

Gould was born in Virginia and has sung in many of the world’s major opera houses.

According to the Mayo Clinic, biliary tract cancer often doesn’t cause any symptoms in the early stages. It’s often discovered by accident – for example, through routine blood tests or imaging done for an unrelated reason.

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