Critics praise Calleja’s Edgardo in Met’s “Lucia”
Last Thursday Joseph Calleja stepped onto the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in his third role with the company this season: Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Performing opposite Natalie Dessay in the title role, the 33-year-old tenor “sang an Edgardo of exceptional elegance,” wrote Mike Silverman of the Associated Press. “This was golden age vocalism, pure and simple.” The New York Times critic Zachary Woolfe called Calleja’s first New York performance as Edgardo “sensationally ardent” and “one of the best roles of his young, exciting Met career.” The opera blog An Unamplified Voice rhapsodized: “To be present when a person does anything as well as tenor Joseph Calleja sings Edgardo in the Met’s revival of Lucia is one of the great joys of life.” Thanks to the “Met: Live in HD” series of transmissions to movie theaters, audiences worldwide will have a chance to see and hear Calleja’s Edgardo on Saturday, March 19.
Joseph Calleja was only 28 years old when he made his Met debut as the Duke in Rigoletto in 2006, prompting the New York Times to note his “rich and expressive” voice. The cast of the Met’s current Mary Zimmerman revival production of Lucia (in addition to Dessay) features Ludovic Tézier as Enrico and Kwangchul Youn as Raimondo. Patrick Summers, Houston Grand Opera’s Music Director, conducts.
As part of the Peabody- and Emmy Award-winning “The Met: Live in HD” series, the March 19 matinee performance of Lucia will be transmitted to hundreds of movie theaters in more than 40 countries at 1pm EST (visit the Met’s web site for more information). A U.S. encore will be presented on Wednesday, April 6 at 6:30pm EST, and a Canadian encore is scheduled for Saturday, April 2 at 1pm EST.
Shortly after his performances at the Met, Calleja returns to two of Germany’s most prestigious houses – Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper for La bohème and Berlin’s Deutsche Oper for Lucia – and gives a concert of opera arias in Istanbul, Turkey. Calleja closes the season touring with the Metropolitan Opera in Japan, singing Rodolfo opposite Anna Netrebko’s Mimì and Edgardo opposite Diana Damrau’s Lucia. An exclusive Decca Classics recording artist since 2003, Calleja will release The Maltese Tenor, his third solo album for the label, later this year.
Joseph Calleja: upcoming appearances
March 4, 8, 12, 16, & 19*; New York City
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
Metropolitan Opera House
*”The Met: Live in HD” transmission
April 6, 10, & 24; Berlin, Germany
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
Deutsche Oper
April 14; Istanbul, Turkey
Opera arias with orchestra
May 13, 16, 20, & 24; Munich, Germany
Puccini: La bohème (Rodolfo)
Bayerische Staatsoper
June 9 & 12; Tokyo, Japan
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)
Metropolitan Opera Japan tour
Tokyo Bunka Kaikan
June 17 & 19; Tokyo, Japan
Puccini: La bohème (Rodolfo)
Metropolitan Opera Japan tour
NHK Hall
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