Joseph Calleja

Maltese-born Joseph Callej is a tenor. Born in Malta in 1978, Joseph Calleja began singing at the age of 16, first in his church choir, and then in formal training with Maltese tenor Paul Asciak. By 35 years of age, he sung 28 principal roles and regularly appears on most of the world's leading opera stages. A Grammy-nominated recording artist for Decca Classics, Calleja has released four solo albums. On his newest recording, Be My Love: A Tribute to Mario Lanza, Calleja pays homage to the famous Italian-American singer and actor, by whose film The Great Caruso he was inspired to pursue a career in opera. Calleja was only 19 when he made his operatic debut as Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth at the Astra Theatre in Malta, shortly before winning an award in the Belvedere Hans Gabor competition that launched his international career. He went on to win the 1998 Caruso Competition in Milan and was a prize winner in Domingo's Operalia in 1999, the year of his U.S. debut at the Spoleto Festival.