JOSEPH CALLEJA, tenor
"From Nessun dorma to Be My Love"
Navarra Symphony Orchestra 
conductor Frédéric Chaslin

Obecní dům - Smetanova síň
náměstí Republiky 5, Praha 1
24.1. 2013 19:30

HVĚZDY SVĚTOVÉ OPERY V PRAZE /
THE WORLD OPERA STARS IN PRAGUE

Česká verze článku

Tickets for JOSEPH CALLEJA,
From Nessun dorma to Be My Love  here


Blessed with a golden age voice the Maltese-born Joseph Calleja has become one of the most sought-after tenors on both sides of the Atlantic. At only 33 years of age, he has sung 28 principal roles and performed on most of the world’s leading opera stages, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera, London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, and the Vienna Staatsoper. An exclusive recording artist for Decca Classics, his third solo album, The Maltese Tenor, debuted as the best-selling vocal album on the core classical charts in the U.K. and Germany.

Joseph Calleja begun the 2011-12 season with recitals in Ljubljana and Prague and embarked on a concert tour in Korea. He follows this with concerts in Paris, Munich, and Vienna. In December, Calleja appeared with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic at the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Stockholm. Returning to the opera stage at the end of the year, the tenor sings Nadir in Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He kicks off 2012 performing the title character in a new production of Gounod’s Faust at the Metropolitan Opera, then returns to Europe for the title roles in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux at Munich’s Bayerische Staatoper, and Mascagni’s L'amico Fritz at the Frankfurt Opera. In the spring, in a highly anticipated return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Calleja sings Rodolfo in La bohème. He concludes the season with a concert at the famous Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen; singing Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor in a return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin; and appearing once more as Rodolfo at the Munich Opera Festival.

Besides for his other engagements of the last season, Joseph Calleja took on three signature roles at the Met: Rodolfo in La bohème, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. Also at the Met, he debuted in the title role of Bartlett Sher’s new production of Tales of Hoffmann.

Calleja made his Covent Garden debut as the Duke of Mantua, and soon returned to sing Alfredo, Macduff, and Adorno. At the Vienna Staatsoper he has portrayed Elvino in Bellini’s La sonnambula and Arturo in I puritani; Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and the title role of Roberto Devereux. At Vienna’s Konzerthaus, he sang Tebaldo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi alongside Anna Netrebko and Elīna Garanča, in concert performances recorded by Deutsche Grammophon and released in early 2009.

Born in Malta in 1978, Joseph Calleja began singing at the age of 16, inspired by the film The Great Caruso starring Mario Lanza. After singing in his church choir, he began formal training with Maltese tenor Paul Asciak. Calleja made his professional debut in Malta in 1997 as Macduff in Macbeth, and later that year won an award in the Belvedere Hans Gabor competition, launching his international opera career. He went on to win the 1998 Caruso Competition in Milan and was a prizewinner in Domingo’s Operalia the following year.

Tickets for JOSEPH CALLEJA,
From Nessun dorma to Be My Love  here

HVĚZDY SVĚTOVÉ OPERY V PRAZE /
THE WORLD OPERA STARS IN PRAGUE

FROM NESSUN DORMA TO BE MY LOVE
Joseph Calleja’s tribute to Mario Lanza
CD release & Concert Tour 2012-2013
At the age of 20, Joseph came rather late to the world of classical music. His big inspiration was the movie star Mario Lanza whose films were still being played in cinemas and on TV in the 90’s in his home Malta. This will be the fourth release for Decca and it really does come as homage to Joseph’s boyhood hero. On the CD, tracks will include Because, Be My Love, Neapolitans songs as well as heavy opera arias such as Nessun Dorma (Turandot), and Vesti la Guibba (Pagliacci).

In concerts, the program will consist of two parts: Opera arias in the first half (Puccini, Verdi, etc.) and Neapolitan songs followed by Hollywood songs in the second half.

Joseph’s stage partners on the project are Navarra Symphony Orchestra and conductor Frédéric Chaslin.
Navarra Symphony Orchestra was founded by Pablo Sarasate in 1879, and it is the oldest active orchestral ensemble in Spain. The orchestra embraces a wide repertoire, on regular basis it cooperates with worldwide known soloists and conductors and it is considered one of the best Spanish orchestras frequently invited to renowned concert halls and festivals in Spain and abroad.
In the last seasons the Orchestra has visited Bilbao, Madrid, Warsaw, Dortmund and Paris and did concert tours in China. Most recently the orchestra has been working with Daniella Barcelona, Juan Diego Flórez and Roberto Alagna. In 2009, NSO spent a month in Paris for the production of Franco Alfano’s opera Cyrano de Bergerac at the Théâtre du Châtelet with Placido Domingo in the title role. In 2011 the orchestra returned to Théâtre du Châtelet with Placido Domingo in a production of Daniel Catan’s opera Il Postino.

Conductor, pianist and composer Frédéric Chaslin works as the Chief Conductor of the Santa Fe Opera and the Music Director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Born in Paris, he began his career in 1989 as assistant to Daniel Barenboim and he became Pierre Boulez’s assistant at the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris in 1991.
Major international festivals and opera companies where Mr. Chaslin appeared include leading houses in New York, Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Scotland and Wales. He has also led all the major Parisian orchestras, the Vienna Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, the Manchester Hallé and the London Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras.
His Metropolitan Opera debut in 2002, conducting Il Trovatore to great acclaim, and since then has led MET productions of The Tales of Hoffmann, Sicilian Vespers, The Barber of Seville and La Bohème. In 2005, he conducted Romeo and Juliet at the Los Angeles Opera with Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko in the title roles.
In summer 2012 Mr. Chaslin returned to the Vienna State Opera for La Juive with Neil Shicoff, and open Italy’s Macerata Festival with Gounod's Faust, staged by Pier Luigi Pizzi. Next season he will be back in Vienna, conducting Werther with Jonas Kaufmann.
As a pianist, Mr. Chaslin appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 and from the keyboard he conducted Ravel’s G Major Concerto in Japan, Italy and Israel.
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