Roberto Alagna, the tenor who stormed off the stage at La Scala, Milan, after catcalls and boos from the audience, last night appeared to backtrack on his vow never to return.

He said that he was obliged by his contract to sing the role of Radames in Aida on Thursday and had tried in vain to contact the La Scala management. “If they don’t let me sing on Thursday, they will be the ones in breach of contract, not me,” Alagna said.

However, a spokesman for the opera house said that the performer had broken his contract. “His behaviour has created a rift between the artist and the audience, and there is no possibility of repairing this relationship,” said Carlo Maria Cella.

The Italian tenor Walter Fraccaro has been engaged to sing the role of Radames for the rest of the run.

Alanga had grown increasingly incensed on Sunday night during the second performance of Franco Zeffirelli’s extravagant production of Verdi’s opera, as his opening aria was met with a critical response from some sections of the audience. He suddenly stopped singing, glared angrily into the audience, threw off his Egyptian cloak and stormed out, refusing to finish his performance, as the audience at La Scala shouted: “Shame on you.”

Stephane Lissner, the general manager of the opera house in Milan, rushed down from his box to remonstrate with the tenor, but in vain.

Alagna’s understudy, Antonello Palombi, was hurried on stage to complete the act with no time to change out of his jeans and shirt. Before the third act, Mr Lissner apologised to the audience, and at the end Palombi earned nine minutes of applause.

The gala performance three days earlier had drawn a 15-minute standing ovation, although Alagna appeared nervous and strained in the role of Radames, earning a few catcalls and poor reviews the next morning. The production was heaped with praise, particularly for the veteran director.

Alagna dismissed the criticism, saying: “I don’t think that all the people — the chorus, the orchestra, the managers of La Scala — were lying when they told me that I was singing like a god.”

For the second performance, the loggionisti — the diehard La Scala operagoers who queue overnight for a seat — were in full cry. As Alagna began the opera’s opening aria, Celeste Aida, a chorus of boos and whistles broke out and he walked off stage.

The public was outraged, but Alagna, 43, was defiant. “I do not deserve this kind of reception,” he said last night.

Zeffirelli, 83, accused the tenor of acting like a spoilt brat: “A professional should never behave in this way. Alagna is too sensitive, it is too easy to hurt his feelings. He does not know how to act like a true star.”

Mr Lissner released a statement accusing Alagna of showing “an obvious lack of respect to the public and the theatre”. He also rounded on the booers and whistlers: “I have always maintained that artists are at the heart of a theatrical project and we are here to support them and guarantee the best conditions for them so that they can do their jobs.”

Last night it emerged that Alagna’s wife, Angela Gheorghiu, had withdrawn from a Royal Opera production of Verdi’s Don Carlos. A spokesman said: “Angela says she that wasn’t quite sure it was a role for her and she was uncomfortable with it.”

OPERATIC EXITS