The evening's finest performance comes from Joseph Calleja as Nicias. It's
not a long role but he makes it a star turn with immaculate singing [...]"
George Hall, The Stage, 2 July 2007
Joseph Calleja at curtain call after Thaïs at the Royal Opera House in London. Photo: ©Alice Poulsen.
REVIEWS: THAïS
Concert performance of Massenet's opera Thaïs. The role was Nicias.
Intermezzo
The other big success of the evening was Joseph Calleja in the secondary role of Nicias. A huge voice and an easy confident presence, it's easy to see why he got such raves recently in Vienna standing in at short notice for a sick Villazon in La Traviata.
Intermezzo, 29 June 2007
Thestage.co.uk
The evening's finest performance comes from Joseph Calleja as Nicias. It's not a long role but he makes it a star turn with immaculate singing and a fine suggestion of the wealthy young playboy who just wants to have fun.
George Hall, TheStage.co.uk, 2 July 2007
The Cultured Gent
But it was Maltese tenor, Joseph Calleja, a co-passenger on my recent flight back from the island, who impressed the most. His voice has developed remarkably in such a short space of time, mainly through his careful choice of roles, and this performance as the wealthy Nicias, who buys Thaïs' company for a week, may well have been his best yet. "Demain! Demain! Demain!, je ne serai pour toi qu'un nom (Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow, I shall be only a name to you)," they sing, summing up the clinical nature of the relationship.
His duet with Fleming, "C'est Thaïs, I'idole fragile (Thaïs, the frail idol)," was as good as it gets, and let's hope that he soon brings out a CD of such songs. His enthusiasm at the end of the performance when the singers were taking their bows was reminiscent of the excitement Karita Mattila shows when she knows the night has gone well.
Peter Wilson, The Cultured Gent, 30 June 2007
The Times
[...] Fleming was clearly dying to increase the acting. So were Ana James and Liora Grodnikaite, the eye-rolling slave girls. So, definitely, was Joseph Calleja, on top vocal form as Nicias – once Athanaël’s childhood chum, now Alexandria’s leading playboy.
Geoff Brown, The Times, 29 June 2007
The Evening Standard
[...] Joseph Calleja was suitably exuberant as the sybarite philosopher
Nicias [...]
Barry Millington, The Evening Standard, 28 June 2007
The Guardian
[...] Joseph Calleja's honeyed tenor as Nicias was not far off
sensational
Martin Kettle, The Guardian, 28 June 2007
The Financial Times
[...] and tenor Joseph Calleja showed he has returned to fine form as Nicias.
Richard Fairman, The Financial Times, 3 July 2007
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THAÏS, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
27 & 29 June 2007
| Thaïs | Renee Fleming |
| Athanael | Simone Alberghini |
| Nicias | Joseph Calleja
|
| Music director | Sir Andrew Davies |
| Orchestra | The Royal Opera House Orchestra |
Address
Floral Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2E 9DD
Box Office
020 7304 4000
Web
www.royaloperahouse.org.uk
