Joseph Calleja
Tenor Joseph Calleja has inspired, from reputable organs such as The New Yorker, comparisons with such legendary figures as Luciano Pavarotti and even Beniamino Gigli. His distinctive voice, with a rapid vibrato, carries for some observers a mood reminiscent of his native Malta.
Calleja was born in Attard, Malta, on January 22, 1978. His training was fairly brief and took place entirely in his home country. He was inspired to become a singer by the Mario Lanza film The Great Caruso when he was about 13. He joined a choir, began taking piano lessons, and started doing vocal exercises and solfège. It was not until 1994 that Calleja began voice lessons with tenor Paul Asciak, who said, "Over a period of three years Joseph's voice assumed many of the qualities of this old school of singing, and developed beautifully into a light, flexible and mellow instrument with both a distinctive timbre and a promising ringing top."
After those three years, Calleja began to make an international impact. He toured Italy with a program of operatic arias and made his non-Maltese debut in 1997 in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda with the Netherlands Reisopera. He won several major prizes, including one in Plácido Domingo's 1999 Operalia International Opera Competition, and those led to bigger operatic roles in Italy and increasingly around Europe and Britain. He made his U.S. debut as Rinuccio in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. After the turn of the century came debuts at major European houses: he appeared for the first time at the Bayerische Staatsoper München and the Frankfurt Opera as Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème, then made debuts as the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen. Calleja released his first album, Tenor Arias, on the Decca label in 2004. The conductor was Riccardo Chailly, who called him "a voice that could match the past." He has often appeared at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and in 2017-2018, he was featured in a production of Bellini's Norma at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. At home in Malta, he has performed an annual outdoor concert at the Granaries plaza in the city of Fosos; the first one featured pop tenor Michael Bolton and later concerts have included other crossover collaborators.
Calleja has continued to record for Decca. He was named Gramophone magazine's Artist of the Year in 2012, headlined the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and released a tribute to Mario Lanza, the artist who had inspired him. Calleja's career as a solo recording artist picked up in the late 2010s with the recital Verdi in 2018 and with the 2020 album The Magic of Mantovani, where he was featured on vocal tracks newly added to classic light music ("easy listening") recordings of the single-named conductor and orchestra leader Mantovani. He returned in 2023 with the album Sacred Arias.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Ave Maria
Joseph Calleja, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergey Smbatyan
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Apr 7, 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Magic Of Mantovani
Joseph Calleja, Mantovani & His Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Sep 25, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Joseph Calleja - The Maltese Tenor
Joseph Calleja, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Marco Armiliato
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Golden Voice (Special edition with bonus track)
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amore
Joseph Calleja, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Steven Mercurio
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Joseph Calleja - Verdi
Joseph Calleja, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Ramón Tebar
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Feb 2, 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tenor Arias
Joseph Calleja, Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Riccardo Chailly
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Jan 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Be My Love - A Tribute To Mario Lanza
Joseph Calleja, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Steven Mercurio
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2012
Stereophile: Record To Die For24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Golden Voice
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Charmaine (From "What Price Glory")
Joseph Calleja, Mantovani, Mantovani & His Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Mar 13, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
You'll Never Walk Alone
Joseph Calleja, Mantovani & His Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jun 19, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Traditional: Ninni La Tibkix Iżjed (Arr. Belli for Tenor and Orchestra)
Joseph Calleja, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergey Smbatyan
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Dec 2, 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Magic Of Mantovani
Joseph Calleja, Mantovani & His Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Sep 25, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
White Christmas
Joseph Calleja, Mantovani & His Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Dec 11, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
O Holy Night
Joseph Calleja, Mantovani & His Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Dec 18, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ave Maria
Joseph Calleja, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergey Smbatyan
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Apr 7, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Aida, Act 1: "Se quel guerrier io fossi!...Celeste Aida”
Joseph Calleja, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Ramón Tebar
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 12, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amore
Joseph Calleja, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Steven Mercurio
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
You'll Never Walk Alone
Joseph Calleja, Mantovani & His Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jun 19, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Be My Love - A Tribute To Mario Lanza
Joseph Calleja, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Steven Mercurio
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2012
Stereophile: Record To Die For16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Il Trovatore, Act 3: "Di quella pira"
Joseph Calleja, Angela Gheorghiu, Apollo Voices, Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Ramón Tebar
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Dec 8, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo