Calleja receiving the award from Domingo.Calleja receiving the award from Domingo.

Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja was last night handed the Opera News award during a ceremony in New York.

Calleja was among five honorees to be acknowledged for contributions to the opera world at the 11th annual awards ceremony.

The tenor was handed the award by opera legend Placido Domingo - the two are incidentally currently performing in Simon Boccanegra in New York.

Senior editor Louise Guinther said: “Joseph Calleja has a golden-age voice, its very timbre imbued with intense emotion and irresistible passion, and he wields it with technical mastery so secure that he can project an air of complete spontaneity and abandon - the essence of the singing actor's art. Calleja paints fully dimensional characters through sound alone.”

Calleja told Times of Malta: - "I am absolutely thrilled to receive this award presented to me by opera legend Placido Domingo. Opera News magazine has been one of the major operatic institutions for more than half a century. It's quite an honour especially when in the company of the other recipients Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Waltraud Maier and Jose Van Dam."

Opera News has been published by The Metropolitan Opera Guild since 1936; it has the largest circulation of any classical music magazine in the United States.

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