1958 he added Turandot with Serafin in Chicago to his repertory (debut in October, Birgit Nilsson was Turandot), and Andrea Chenier in Roma in March 1959. In March 1961 he starred in the world premiere of Il calzare d'argento by Ildebrando Pizzetti, performed at La Scala and conducted by Gavazzeni. He did well despite the vocal difficulties of the score, and given that Di Stefano's vocal health was now in dubious condition, so dubious in fact that when he debuted at Covent Garden in May 1961 for performances of Tosca with Regine Crespin, he was poorly received. He returned to Covent Garden in 1963 for La Boheme with soprano Joan Carlyle, but was now in serious vocal trouble and had to cancel. He was replaced by Luciano Pavarotti, then an unknown newcomer.

Mid 60's Di Stefano did less and less opera performances and largely confined himself to concerts and recitals. However, he attempted to take on Wagner's Rienzi at La Scala in 1964, and was lamentably cancelled in Buenos Aires in 1965. Here he had been scheduled for Un Ballo in Maschera at the Teatro Colon, but having been an admired Cavaradossi, he was offered to sing the last performances of Tosca opposite Régine Crespin. However, Di Stefanos vocal production was so poor that the Colon management cancelled his scheduled Ballo and dissolved the contract. A further blow came in Pasadena in March 1966, when he with poor luck attempted the role of Otello opposite Tito Gobbi.

1964 and 1965 he sang frequently in Wien, performing in Ballo, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, La Forza del Destino and Tosca. He had some success in Milano (La Scala) for Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea in January 1967 and undertook a large tour singing Lehar's Das Land des Lächelns in Berlin (5/66) and Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, St. Louis and Wien July to November 1967. Then his opera performances diminshed to a few stagins per year until 1973 (he sang that year I Vespri Siciliani in Torino), when he stopped alltogheter. He gave now only recitals, but kept nonetheless singing througout the 70's and the 80's. 1973 he accompanied Maria Callas on her final recital tour, an event that was eventually aborted in 1974.

His last performance to date came in June 1992, when he was 71 years of age and sang the role of the emperor in Turandot at the Caracalla in Roma.

- - -

Di Stefano was brutally assaulted in his Kenya home in Diani Beach in November 2004 and never fully recovered from the injuries inflicted upon him. He died in his home in Santa Maria Hoe, north of Milan, on March 3, 2008.