Rehearsals are in full swing for the 500-strong Joseph Calleja HSBC children’s choir that will be accompanying Joseph Calleja, Baglioni and Dionne Warwick on stage at the Granaries on July 24 in a mega, live concert organised by NnG Promotions.

The Joseph Calleja HSBC Children’s Choir, a brainchild of Calleja himself, made its first public appearance during the tenor’s summer concert in Malta last year.

The tenor’s initiative was very positively received and since then, the children’s choir has been busy participating in a number of events and with constant rehearsals under the guidance of Gillian Zammit.

More recently, the choir was chosen to take part during a concert to honour the Pope’s visit to Malta some months ago.

“It is my personal mission to make classical music more accessible even to those would normally miss out on such events and the introduction of the choir last year was one of these personal initiatives.

"Today the choir has grown to 500 children aged seven to 16 and I am very grateful to HSBC for believing and supporting this initiative from day one,” Joseph Calleja said.

Calleja’s annual summer concert in Malta has become the most sought after event in the Maltese events calendar. This year’s concert will bring together three of the world’s most well-loved musicians in a fusion of classical, pop and rock music. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by celebrated Maestro Paul Bateman, will also take part in the concert.

A contingency plan is in place to move the concert by a day to July 25 in case of bad weather to ensure that both the artistes’ and the orchestra’s performance are of the highest possible acoustic and technical levels.

Normal standing tickets starting from €35 are available from all Agenda and Exotique outlets and from www.nngpromotions.com.

Tickets for the specially designated standing area are available from Vodafone outlets at €25 each.

The concert is supported by Vodafone Malta, HSBC and Malta International Airport.