Che gelida manina was an aural feast from beginning to end, with a remarkable [...] C at the end. I feel like I'm jinxing him by saying this, but at this point I can't not: if he doesn't crash, Calleja is the next Bjoerling, the next Pavarotti."An Unamplified Voice
REVIEWS: METROPOLITAN OPERA 125TH ANNIVERSARY GALA
Gala concert at the Metropolitan Opera celebrating the company's 125-years history and a tribute to Plácido Domingo's 40 years with the house.
An Unamplified Voice
"Joseph Calleja was Rodolfo, and though I've made much of him since hearing his 2006 debut Dukes of Mantua (he returns to the part when Rigoletto begins again in a week or so), I suspect most of the audience had not yet heard him in person. His voice is a lyric one, but the strongest sense one gets is of its expansive, enveloping presence wrapping around all one's senses -- an unmistakable standout even in an all-star lineup. "Che gelida manina" was an aural feast from beginning to end, with a remarkable (and I think untransposed) C at the end. I feel like I'm jinxing him by saying this, but at this point I can't not: if he doesn't crash, Calleja is the next Bjoerling, the next Pavarotti."
An Unamplified Voice (blog), 23 March 2009
The Associated Press
"[…] Joseph Calleja won the battle of the tenors with a sweet-voiced "Che gelida manina" from "La Boheme."
AP via Huffington Post, Mike Silverman, 16 March 2009
Concertonet.com
"[...] the most compelling performance was Calleja’s. His voice had a purity and sweetness that was just enchanting."
ConcertoNet.com, Arlene Judith Klotzko
New York Daily News
"Joseph Calleja was a standout in "Che Gelida Manina" from "La Boheme."
NY Daily News, Howard Kissel, 16 March 2009
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MET 125th ANNIVERSARY GALA, The Metropolitan Opera, New York
15 March 2009
Soloists:
Plácido Domingo (Otello, Simon Boccanegra, Parsifal, Dick Johnson), Roberto Alagna (Don José, Faust), Aleksandrs Antonenko (Cavaradossi), Kim Begley (Loge), Stephanie Blythe (Amneris), Joseph Calleja (Rodolfo), Natalie Dessay (Violetta), Lisette Oropesa (Sophie, Rhinemaiden), Renée Fleming (Marietta), Juan Diego Flórez (Duke), Angela Gheorghiu (Marguerite, Amelia), Marcello Giordani (Calaf), Maria Guleghina (Aida), Thomas Hampson (Amfortas), Ben Heppner (Siegfried), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Yeletsky), Maija Kovalevska (Lauretta), Mariusz Kwiecien (Don Giovanni), Kate Lindsey (Rhinemaiden), Waltraud Meier (Carmen), Susanne Mentzer (Octavian), James Morris (Philip II, Wotan), Tamara Mumford (Rhinemaiden),Yvonne Naef (Fricka), Sondra Radvanovsky (Marguerite), John Relyea (Méphistophélès), Garrett Sorenson (Froh), John Tomlinson (Boris), Deborah Voigt (the Marschallin, Brünnhilde).
| Conductor | James Levine |
| Orchestra | The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra |
| Chorus | The Metropolitan Opera Chorus |
