Just surfacing from a successful stint of Macbeth at the Royal Opera House in London, which ended last weekend, tenor Joseph Calleja does not need to pause for breath; he is on a roll and has been for a while.
The 28-year-old, the only Maltese opera singer with a record company contract, has already been invited to the Royal Opera House four times and is "kind of getting used to it".
But singing at Covent Garden is "always a privilege", he says from Vienna, jesting about the good weather there as opposed to Malta.
Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth was directed by Phyllida Lloyd, the first revival of her 2003 production, with musical direction by Yakov Kreizberg.
"I am, perhaps, one of the few artists who considers Macbeth a lucky opera! Things went very well at the Astra in 1997, and things went well this time around as well. The audience's reaction after my one aria was moving and the press has been very good..."
In fact, one of the reviews goes: "Then there is Macduff, little more than ensemble until his heartbreaking aria in act four. Joseph Calleja sang that with charismatic tenderness. The flutter in his voice is most affecting".
The reviews have been flooding in from all fronts for a while now: "There's a sensational ringing quality to Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja's Macduff," is one of the many comments, while FT.com says that "the rest of the cast can do little to sway the proceedings in Macbeth, but John Relyea gave his sonorous best as Banquo and Joseph Calleja's distinctive tenor was heard to advantage as Macduff".
The Guardian digital edition describes him as "a bit wooden as Macduff. However, the big aria in the final act, Ah, la paterno mano, showed Calleja with more weight than his lyric tenor has previously suggested, and this was a big improvement on his Alfredo in last year's Traviata".
But Mr Calleja takes the good with the (little) bad. "I am truly my worst critic, and I used to ignore reviews completely in the past. It was only through the insistence of Paul Asciak that I learnt to collect as much material as possible on my performances, including reviews.
"Very rarely am I hurt by them. On the contrary, they are a powerful tool to gauge one's performance and one has to adopt a 'saved by criticism, rather than ruined by praise' policy. In the end, it is impossible for an artist to please everybody, but I concede that, to date, I have managed to please quite a few."
So, where to after Covent Garden? Mr Calleja's next engagements this season are Puritani in Vienna and a live concert on BBC Radio 2 at 8.30 p.m. tomorrow, following in the footsteps of last year's guest Andrea Bocelli. Mr Calleja was also interviewed by Sean Rafferty on BBC Radio 3's In Tune last month.
His diary includes joint concerts with his wife Tatiana Lisnic at the Frankfurt Opera House, a private engagement in Kunzelsau, Germany, and Malta later this month.
Mr Calleja started the year with a bang in the televised New Year's Concert at Venice's famous Teatro La Fenice. It was the third year the renowned event was held at the Fenice after it was reopened, and the two previous concerts featured the great conductors Riccardo Muti and Lorin Mazel.
Mr Calleja's season comes to a close with his last two engagements in Seattle (Macbeth) and Los Angeles (La Traviata).
And although his career is transporting him around the world at a dizzying pace, he is "simply thrilled and very enthusiastic" about his upcoming concert in Malta, which he is seeing as "the highlight of my operatic season".
His grand return to Malta is scheduled for his opera concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on July 8 at Fort Manoel, which also includes the participation of three singers of international repute.
"A concert of this scale in Malta has never been attempted," he said, congratulating organisers Renaissance Productions Ltd for having the vision, as well as the various sponsors and, particularly, Midi plc chairman Albert Mizzi for the solid support he has provided.
"It would be great to have more Maltese businessmen take his lead and support similar initiatives, which only benefit our beautiful island and its people."