"His voice is maturing every day and it is indeed a tantalising thought that he is not expected to reach his peak as a tenor for another 10 years. Hard to believe when you hear him."
- THE TIMES OF MALTA
PRESS ARTICLES
An Opera Sensation
THE TIMES OF MALTA, OCTOBER 2005
When the teenaged Joseph Calleja was singing along to the heavy metal tunes of Iron Maiden and Metallica in a band with a few long-haired mates, a career as a top tenor was hardly the uppermost thought on his mind.
And even when he underwent a Lazarus-style conversion to opera after watching the Great Caruso starring Mario Lanza, Calleja still failed to take the prospect of singing for a living seriously.
Yet, today, at the tender age of 28, Calleja's diary is packed for the next four years with performances at all the world's top opera houses, including an invitation to sing at the one in Washington which is run by none other than Placido Domingo.
However, anyone who has been paying attention to his career in recent years will not be the slightest bit surprised. In 2003, he became the youngest opera singer ever - even younger than Pavarotti - to be signed by the prestigious Decca record label.
Calleja's first CD, Tenor Arias, has attracted attention from media around the world and his next one will be available locally within days.
His return last February to the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden to play Alfredo in La Traviata was received with high acclaim. In fact, audiences loved him so much that his performance at St John's Smith Square a week later was sold out for the first time in the history of the Rosenblatt Recital Series. "Glossy, virile, lyrical and powerful" is how one British critic described his voice.
A large slice of the credit for nurturing this prodigious talent goes to Paul Asciak, a well-known Maltese tenor from the 1950s, who met Calleja over 10 years ago in what proved to be a turning point in the tenor's life. And he is still his mentor today.
Calleja was extremely disappointed after coming down with a bout of flu during his last visit to Malta in March, forcing him to pull out of two performances in Romeo et Juliette which was being staged in the wonderful setting of the historic Manoel Theatre in Valletta.
However, local audiences will get a second chance to see him in a fortnight as he makes a return to the place where it all began for him, the Astra Theatre in Victoria, Gozo, to star in Puccini's La Bohème - twice in the space of three days on October 27 and 29.
The last time he was there was as a nervous 19-year-old making his stage debut as Macduff in the opera version of Shakespeare's famous Scottish play. Now he will be coming on the back of performances in Barcelona, Vienna, Milan and Frankfurt, to mention just a few, and his performances will be nestled in between all the other events being held as part of the theatre's Mediterranea Festival, a cultural extravaganza now in its fourth year.
These days Calleja is married, to Moldovian soprano Tatiana Lisnic who will be performing with him in La Bohème, and has a one-year-old daughter whom he dotes on at every opportunity. His voice is maturing every day and it is indeed a tantalising thought that he is not expected to reach his peak as a tenor for another 10 years. Hard to believe when you hear him.
