Calleja launches new CD, offered two roles at the Met

Tenor Joseph Calleja has just released a new CD, his first complete opera recording, and confirmed in two separate roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

This has been another good season for the 30-year-old tenor. Calleja enjoyed another successful stint in the US, performing in Chicago and the Washington Opera, where Placido Domingo is director, as the Duke in Rigoletto.

The CD - recorded during a performance of Bellini's Capuletti e Montecchi in Vienna opposite Elina Garanca and Anna Netrebko - has been issued by Decca's sister company, Deutsche Grammophone.

The Vienna-based Die Presse newspaper said: "(Calleja is) a truly remarkable tenor in the thankless role of Tebaldo: (He) not only stood out in timbre and good looks, but also through the musicality with which he used his limber, agile and cleanly produced, voluminous voice."

The Washington Times wrote: "Calleja boasted a powerful voice... he handled his first act aria with just the right touch of arrogance, exhibiting more of the same in the well-known La donna e mobile, his ironic refrain in Act III." Concertonet.com was effusive in its praise: "Calleja was extraordinary as the Duke of Mantua. His voice is supple and refined and he possesses an unusual ease in the top register... It was indeed a happy evening for the tenor!" It is in this role, in fact, that the Metropolitan has booked the tenor, as well as for Nemorino in Donizetti's Elisir D'Amore.

Later this month, the tenor will make his debut in Japan as well as performing under the baton of James Levine - who conducted the legendary Three Tenors during a world tour in 1996 - in Chicago.

There is no let-up next season. As well as his double booking at the Metropolitan, Calleja has been invited to sing in Verdi's Requiem at the BBC Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in August.

If his reviews for the same role in Copenhagen are anything to go by, he should do well. Jyllands Posten wrote: "Both in stature and vocally, does he remind you of the recently deceased Pavarotti? And the chances that he will reach the same status in the operatic world are actually real."

That may be some time off for the young tenor, but he will be doing his best to pay tribute to the legend of opera during his concert in Malta at St George's Square, Valletta, on July 12.

Together with Nataliya Kovalova and George Petean, as well as conductor Brian Schembri and the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, the concert is aptly titled 'A Tribute to Pavarotti'.

Organised by NnG Promotions and sponsored by HSBC and Vodafone, this is the third in the series of annual Malta concerts by Calleja. There will be three categories of tickets: Gold Circle €140 (Lm60.10); Silver Circle €110 (Lm47.22) and Bronze Circle €80 (Lm34.34).

Tickets are available online from www.nngpromotions.com, through Vodafone and Exotique outlets and from Agenda bookshops.

HSBC Premier and Gold customers will benefit from a €10 (Lm4.29) discount on the ticket price when buying tickets using their Premier or Gold cards. Vodafone customers will benefit from a €10 discount on any ticket bought from Vodafone outlets.