Tenor Joseph Calleja has spoken of his "shock" when he learnt that the government was planning to forge ahead with the idea to shift Parliament to the site of the former Royal Opera House.

Mr Calleja, who has performed in many of the world's major theatres, believes that Malta needs a proper opera house, since the Manoel Theatre, Mediterranean Conference Centre and St James Cavalier are inadequate.

"I do not think it is in the national interest for Malta to be one of the few countries in the world which does not have an opera house," he told The Sunday Times yesterday, pointing out that even Gozo is equipped with two opera houses - the Astra and Aurora - which can stage big productions.

Mr Calleja believes the site should be developed into a multipurpose state-of-the-art auditorium suitable for musicals, opera, theatre, ballet and even special conferences to make it more financially feasible.

"Imagine the grand opening of an opera house bombed during the war. It would be an exercise in PR which the island needs since our main source of income is tourism," he said. Last week Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi confirmed that Italian architect Renzo Piano had been engaged to design Valletta's City Gate and the site of the former opera house, which has been in ruins since the war. The Prime Minister said the government decided not to include a theatre because it did not want to saturate the area.

But Mr Calleja pointed out that although it is a gem, the Manoel Theatre lacks backstage facilities and is not suited to big productions. The Mediterranean Conference Centre also lacks backstage facilities and its acoustics are not suitable for theatrical music while St James Cavalier is "little more than a hall".

Ingenious architecture can find a way of making the best use of limited space.

"I have performed at many opera houses which are not as big as the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden or New York's Metropolitan Opera House, but still do a very good job of sustaining big productions. I think more studies need to be carried out to ascertain whether the footprint is indeed not suited for a modern-day theatre," he said.

Although the major part of his career is spent in theatres abroad, Mr Calleja said he loves performing in Malta.

"In the unlikely scenario that the ruins are rebuilt into an opera house, and I get to perform there, it would probably be one of the most important performances in my life to sing as a Maltese person in a place which has so much history."

Mr Calleja is not the only one to object to Parliament being moved to the opera house site.

Although in his column today (page 13) he praises the Prime Minister's decision to engage Mr Piano, Fr Peter Serracino Inglott said:

"Readers do not need to be told that putting parliament in place of the Opera House is diametrically opposed to what I desire, like so many others who believe that it is living art that is the best expression of our identity and our major economic resource.

"Moreover, the two reasons which the Prime Minister gave for his decision are demonstrably false. They made me wonder whoever it was who had the skill to persuade the Prime Minister of them. However, I have always held that in such matters the buck stops with him."

A group against the parliament proposal formed on the Facebook website also had 1,600 members until yesterday.

On the other hand, the Republic Street Business Community Association welcomed the relocation of Parliament to the old Opera House site and expressed pride that Mr Piano had been chosen to design and commission this project. It also called on government to build a multi-storey car park beneath Freedom Square.

But the idea of a car park, together with an underground bus terminus, has been scrapped, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister said. In fact, while the original project proposed in 1988 was expected to cost around €93 million, the new City Gate and Opera House projects are expected to cost between €60 and €80 million.

It is still unclear how much Mr Piano will earn for the projects. Dr Gonzi has said that the contract, which will include deadlines, is still being drawn up. According to former Valletta Rehabilitation Project head Ray Bondin, Mr Piano was paid some Lm80,000 (€186,349) by the Italian government for the original project.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.