Joseph Calleja: "The Maltese Tenor" Decca Classics Album Release Concert @ (le) poisson rouge October 24, 2011

Calleja made his United States debut as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi at the Spoleto Festival. He appeared as Macduff with Seattle Opera and debuted with both Los Angeles Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago as Alfredo in La traviata. At the Metropolitan Opera in New York, he has sung Verdi’s Duke, Macduff, and Nemorino. Further U.S. appearances include Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, the Duke of Mantua for Washington Opera, and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor for Minnesota Opera. In 2000, when he was a mere 22 years old, he made his Canadian debut in Toronto as Rodolfo in La bohème. An exclusive Decca recording artist since 2003, his first two albums of opera arias, The Golden Voice and Tenor Arias, captured critical and popular acclaim, and prompted Riccardo Chailly, with whom he collaborated on the first recording, to comment, “For some time I have not heard such a talent at this young age, with a sound harking back to a quality I thought we had long lost.” Both albums won Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine, and the Observer described Calleja as “a rare discovery, evoking memories from Caruso to Domingo with the suppleness of his tone and the expressive, highly individual lyricism he brings to even the most familiar material.”

Also in great demand as a concert artist, Calleja has toured throughout Germany in recitals and solo concerts, and with soprano Anna Netrebko. Additionally, he has appeared in opera galas including Leipzig, the Hampton Court and Faenol Festivals in the UK with Bryn Terfel, and at the Sejong Cultural Center in Seoul, Korea. Calleja has sung Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Festival de Música de Canarias; Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with Riccardo Chailly, Gianandrea Noseda, and Juri Belohlavek at London’s BBC Proms; and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass at the Salzburg Easter Festival.

Born in Malta in 1978, Joseph Calleja began singing at the age of 16, training with Maltese tenor Paul Asciak. He made his professional debut in Malta in 1997 as Macduff in Macbeth and won an award in the Belvedere Hans Gabor competition later that year. He went on to win the 1998 Caruso Competition in Milan and was a prizewinner in Domingo’s Operalia the following year.

Official Website: http://lepoissonrouge.com/events/view/2662