"His vocal technique sounds virtually flawless. And the way he attacked the top notes in “Instant charmant” from Jules Massenet’s Manon, light yet full-bodied, metallic but never sharp-edged, was really excellent. In Macduff’s aria from the fourth act of Verdi’s Macbeth, “A la paterna mano” as well, his voice was so uniformly produced in every section that the whole discussion of registers becomes academic."
Axel Zibulski, Wiesbadener Kurier, August 2006.
(TOP) The Wiesbaden Kurhaus. Calleja and Kovalova receiving the audience ovation. (BOTTOM) Calleja after the concert. Photos: Erwin Altmeier.
REVIEWS: RECITALS & CONCERTS
Reviews of various recitals, concerts and gala.
Rheingau Music Festival, Wiesbaden Kurhaus
10 August 2006
Joseph Calleja, tenor
Nataliya Kovalova, soprano
Münchner Sinfoniker /
Georg Schmöhe
Frankfurter Neue Presse
A Glow in the Voice
Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja made a guest appearance at an opera gala in the Rheingau Music Festival in the Wiesbaden Kurhaus
You really have to experience this weightlessness and downright child-like naturalness in singing to understand why 28-year old Joseph Calleja ranks among the shining stars on the operatic firmament. At a guest appearance together with Ukrainian soprano Nataliya Kovalova in Thiersch Hall the singers revealed plenty of glow and passion, especially in the French roles of Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon and Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Without audibly having to strain in any way, this singer also masters the hardest passages. At the beginning, the soprano had some problems keeping the right balance. Her Manon (“Je marche sur tous les chemins”) occasionally sounded a bit loud and awkward. Finally as Mimí in the duet with Rodolfo (“O soave fanciulla”) she showed more flair and stressed the lyrical‑dreamlike strengths of her expressive voice. The Munich Symphony under the direction of Georg Schmöhe accompanied the evening solidly and with a secure sense of style while adding many an operatic rarity. (Ge)
(Translation by Donald Arthur)
Wiesbadener Kurier
Gourmet Treats for Ear and Nose
Rheingau Music Festival “Grand Opera Gala”
WIESBADEN. It smelled of fish. Quite intensely at any rate on the left side of the ground floor in Thiersch Hall. The Wiesbaden Kurhaus as a gourmet temple with adjoining concert facilities? Anyhow, this wasn’t the first time that the “Grand Opera Gala” at the Rheingau Music Festival also offered a little gourmet flair for the nose. Not pleasant, even if the pleasures for the ear were also culinary. Soprano Nataliya Kovalova and tenor Joseph Calleja presented themselves on stage with an Italo-French operatic potpourri.
Calleja, who was born in Malta 28 years ago, has already performed at the Frankfurt Opera, for example in the role of Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. At least since the release of his second recital CD last year he is no longer a tenoreal secret weapon in the bel canto trade. He was able to display this impressively in the Kurhaus. His vocal technique sounds virtually flawless. And the way he attacked the top notes in “Instant charmant” from Jules Massenet’s Manon, light yet full-bodied, metallic but never sharp-edged, was really excellent. In Macduff’s aria from the fourth act of Verdi’s Macbeth, “A la paterna mano” as well, his voice was so uniformly produced in every section that the whole discussion of registers becomes academic. One vocally magic moment was the final note of the aria “Ah! Lève-toi, soleil” from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette which Calleja smoothly faded down to a pianissimo. Occasional vocal nasality is really a side issue.
As cultivatedly as Calleja sang, that was how up-front Nataliya Kovalova came on. If, at the beginning, her Manon aria “Je marche sur tous les chemins” may have been a bit overdone dynamically, she convinced the Wiesbaden audience with her rather tart, full-throated, more emphatic than noble “Violetta” coloratura from Verdi’s “La Traviata”, as well as with her impassioned avowal “Je veux vivre” from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. The way she slightly dominated in the subtly acted duets with Calleja came as no surprise. One might have hoped for a bit more singer‑friendly restraint from the Munich Symphony, which, under the direction of Georg Schmöhe, otherwise offered technically solid support.
Axel Zibulski
(Translation by Donald Arthur)
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GRAND OPERA GALA,
WIESBADEN KURHAUS
Rheingau Music Festival, Germany
10 August 2006 · 20:00 · Friedrich-von-Thiersch-Saal
Joseph Calleja ·Nataliya Kovalova
Münchner Symphoniker / Georg Schmöhe
