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Michael Richards will apologize to the targets of his racist rant. PHOTO: AP

Luciano Pavarotti will make his first public appearance next week since an operation to remove a pancreatic cancer in July forced him to cancel a tour, but will not sing, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

The 71-year-old opera singer, regarded by many as the greatest tenor of his generation, will pick up an award for services to opera in a theater in Bergamo, northern Italy.

"He will receive the prize and nine of his students will sing some works by (Gaetano) Donizetti. The maestro will be present for the whole evening in the theatre," said theatre spokeswoman Raffaella Valsecchi.

"He will not sing," she added.

Pavarotti cancelled all remaining tour dates for 2006 when he was diagnosed with the cancer, but has since said he hopes to resume performing in 2007.

The event will take place at Bergamo's Donizetti theatre on Wednesday evening. The award is presented every two years to a singer who has promoted the works of the composer Donizetti, a native of the town nestled in the foothills of the Alps.

Since his operatic debut in 1961, Pavarotti has become one of the most recognized classical musicians in the world.

Meanwhile, Seinfeld co-star Michael Richards, who will personally apologize to three black men and a black woman he offended in a torrent of racial slurs unleashed during a recent nightclub performance, his spokesman said on Friday.

"Since this happened, this is what Michael has wanted to do — get in the room and apologize in person to the recipients of his unfortunate remarks," spokesman Chris Giglio said.

An attorney for the four, Gloria Allred, said Richards has agreed to meet her clients along with a retired judge who will serve as a mediator in recommending any further action. The retired judge has not been selected, and Allred said the meeting is likely to take place in January.

Richards, best known for playing the wacky character Kramer for nine years on the NBC smash hit Seinfeld, might be asked to make a cash payment to the four, but that has yet to be determined, Allred said.

"They (her clients) will be telling him (Richards) about the pain they suffered" as a result of the racial epithets, Allred said during a press conference Friday.

Richards, 57, sparked a public outcry for spewing a torrent of racial slurs at hecklers during his stand-up act at the Laugh Factor comedy club in Hollywood on Nov. 17. The incident was captured in digital camera video footage that was widely circulated on the Internet and was broadcast on TV newscasts three days later.

Allred said her clients were among a large mixed-race birthday party of 23 individuals and were the only blacks at the large table of friends.

After exchanges between Richards and audience members sitting at a table on the upper level of the comedy club, Richards launched into a series of racial epithets, and used "the 'N-word'" as many as 10 times, she said.

The following Monday, Richards issued a public apology during an appearance with Jerry Seinfeld on the CBS Late Show with David Letterman, saying he had lost his temper on stage.

Since then, Richards also has appeared on a radio show hosted by civil rights activist Jesse Jackson to make a similar apology.

And a spokeswoman for Eva Longoria said the Desperate Housewives actress is engaged to San Antonio Spurs basketball star Tony Parker.

"Tony flew into Los Angeles last night after his game and surprised Eva at her home as she got off work," Longoria's spokeswoman Liza Anderson said last week.

"The proposal was romantic and perfect. The couple plans to wed in France in the summer of 2007 in what they describe as a big, happy ceremony with lots of family and friends." The 31-year-old Longoria, who plays crafty Gabrielle Solis on ABC's Desperate Housewives, and Parker, a 24-year-old French citizen, met in the Spurs' locker room after a game two years ago.

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