Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja gave a surprise performance at last night’s presentation of the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors in Washington attended by President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

The honours are the highest awards in the US given to living individuals who have made a significant contribution to American culture through the performing arts.

Mr Calleja, described by the New York Times as having “one of the loveliest voices in opera right now”, sang the aria Celeste Aida from Verdi’s Aida in tribute to preeminent American soprano Martina Arroyo, one of this year’s five honourees.

He then joined soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, the Army Herald Trumpets, the US Naval Academy Glee Club and alumni of the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s programmes for the Act II finale from the same work. Arroyo was a noted interpreter of the title role.

Attended by Arroyo and her fellow honourees – actress Shirley MacLaine, pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, singer and songwriter Billy Joel and musician and songwriter Carlos Santana – the star-studded celebration will be broadcast nationwide in a two-hour primetime special on CBS-TV on December 29.

“It was a real privilege to participate in this tribute to Martina Arroyo, for whom I have the most profound respect,” said Mr Calleja.

“Thanks to her incomparable voice and to the work she does for young artist development through the Martina Arroyo Foundation, her contribution to opera is invaluable.”

The tenor is currently performing in another Verdi masterpiece at Lyric Opera of Chicago, where his portrayal of Alfredo in the company’s new production of La Traviata has been heralded as a “triumph” by Chicago Tribune.