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Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s body to be airlifted to Moscow on Saturday evening

The ceremony of paying last respects to the late baritone is scheduled for about 10.00 a.m. on Monday and it will take place in Moscow's downtown Tchaikovsky Concert Hall

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. A plane carrying the body of beloved Russian operatic baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who passed away on November 22, will arrive in Moscow on Saturday evening, the singer’s representative in Russia told TASS on Saturday.

"[The body is expected] to be brought approximately at 19.00 [Moscow time]," Anna Ilyina said.

The ceremony of paying last respects to the late baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky is scheduled for about 10.00 a.m. on Monday, November 27 and it will take place in Moscow's downtown Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

Hvorostovsky’s family posted a request on his Facebook page asking the singer’s admirers not to buy flowers but instead donate to a British charity carrying out cancer research.

"The Hvorostovsky family would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support during this difficult time. In lieu of flowers, they suggest that donations be made to Cancer Research UK: bit.ly/DHVCancerResearch," they said.

After the ceremony of paying last respects, his body will be cremated and the ashes will be placed into two caskets. One of them will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy cemetery (the final resting place of the most outstanding art professionals, cultural personalities, scientists, politicians, and military people), and the other one in his home town of Krasnoyarsk, Eastern Siberia.

Hvorostovsky, who is broadly viewed as one of the greatest operatic baritones of our times, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the summer of 2015. He quitted the operatic stage in 2016 but carried on with concerts. Hvorostovsky died of brain cancer at the age of 55 on November 22 in London where he lived with his family.

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