Russel Platt, The New Yorker

“Only one lyric tenor on the scene today has the honeyed tone and ingratiating style to make comparisons to Pavarotti and Gigli seem serious, and it is Calleja, the man from Malta, who, after several years’ of fine journeyman work, is now maturing into an artist of the first rank.”

Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times

“Any doubts about the most winning lyric “Italian” tenor since Pavarotti tackling this heavy Verdi repertoire are largely dispelled by the vitality of his sunny sound and the clarity of his diction.”

Richard Fairman , Financial Times

“...his clarion-clear, Mediterranean tenor with its distinctive fast vibrato has star quality to burn.”

Tom Huizenga, NPR

“It’s rare these days to find an opera singer with such an individual sound that you can identify him or her in just a couple notes. Tenor Joseph Calleja, from the tiny island of Malta, is just such a singer. You can hear the golden Mediterranean sunshine in his voice, and I love his old-fashioned fast vibrato, which flickers like a vintage silent movie. Calleja…is arguably today’s finest lyric tenor.”

Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

“This Maltese tenor… is coming up fast. He is the real thing, a tenor who naturally combines plaintive sound with burnished intensity. He sings with heart and intelligence.”

Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times

“Mr. Calleja has one of the loveliest voices in opera right now, pure, sunny and strong, but with a ringing vibration.”

Mike Silverman, Associated Press

“One of the finest lyric tenors before the public today.”

The New Yorker

“In his latest outing as the Duke in Rigoletto, Joseph Calleja proves himself to be the Brazil Of singers: he’s the tenor of the future, and always will be. The big, honeyed tone [is] the purest and most appealing Italianate sound since Pavarotti.”

Neil Fisher, The Times

“Calleja … has a voice that hits you in a way that bypasses the brain and goes straight to the hairs on the back of your neck.”

Barrymore Laurence Scherer, The Wall Street Journal

“Mr. Calleja’s singing is a magnificent throwback to the golden age of Enrico Caruso. It is not just the distinctive beauty of the tone, but its fine-grained texture, most notably characterized by that rapid vibrato, that recalls the voices captured on antique 78rpm discs and early LPs. It is a sorry fact of today’s opera world that homogenized loudness is often valued above individualized refinement, yet Mr. Calleja’s plangent cantabile phrasing, in which each note is connected in a seamless golden line, recalls the old masters like Gigli (whose voice his most resembles) and more recent exponents of exquisite vocal art, like Carlo Bergonzi and the late Alain Vanzo.”

International Herald Tribune

“Tenor Joseph Calleja was the undisputed star of the evening as [Alfredo] Germont […] Calleja’s voice was like burnished velvet that lost nothing of its strength even at the opera’s most intimate moments, when pianissimo — not power — was called for. His pitch was perfect, his diction dead on.”

Anne Midgette, The Washington Post

“Calleja is certainly a tenor to reckon with. His voice has a light lyric quality coupled with considerable size; a slight nasal cast, but colored throughout with flecks of burnished gold.”

Associated Press

“There’s something about the honeyed sweetness of Joseph Calleja’s voice that seems to evoke memories of a golden age, as if this young tenor carried within his vocal cords a secret passed down from bygone generations.…It’s striking how often reviewers reach for historical comparisons when describing his voice. Some have praised it as the most thrilling lyric tenor sound since Luciano Pavarotti; others invoke the names of legendary singers from earlier eras: Jussi Bjoerling, Beniamino Gigli, even Enrico Caruso.”

Scott Barnes, Opera News

“The sheer beauty of Calleja’s voice and the artistry with which it is employed make this disc [The Maltese Tenor] worthy of a place in any tenor-lover’s collection, and of repeated listening.”

James Jorden, The New York Observer

“Mr. Calleja’s heady voice, with its flickering vibrato, is pure poetry—just right for the aspiring poet Rodolfo. So effortless is his vocalism that it’s easy to overlook the sophistication of his singing. Seamless legato phrases dance with his virtuoso use of rubato, minuscule shifts of tempo that add a dash of individuality to Puccini’s luscious melodies. Even when he sings as familiar a piece as ‘Che gelida manina,’ you stop and take notice, because suddenly the piece sounds new, impulsive and uncontrived.”

Jessica Duchen, The Independent

“Then there’s Joseph Calleja, the Maltese tenor. If Covent Garden wanted to generate its own electricity, it need only hook up some wires to him. His rock-solid yet ever-malleable voice and blazing stage presence could light a thousand lamps.”

Edward Seckerson, The Independent

“Everything about his sound and delivery is personal – the openness, the portamenti, the gentle flutter of vibrato, the ‘covered’ pianissimo spun to glorious effect… You know it’s special, you know you are in the presence of a little bit of operatic history.”

Anthony Holden, The Observer

“Here is a superstar in the making.”

Edward Greenfield, The Guardian

“His very distinctive timbre, with a rapidly flickering vibrato, brings a reminder of such a golden age singer as Alessandro Bonci, and his technique finds him just as happy in the bel canto of Donizetti as in the warm verismo phrases of Cilea and Puccini.… The most refreshing tenor recital for a long time.”

Ljubisa Tosic, Der Standard

“Calleja has an old-¬fashioned but captivating timbre. That certain something is there – it rises above all this turbulence because it is borne aloft on unavoidable spontaneity. As Rodolfo he effectively and cultivatedly provides the essential high passages….his sizable voice easily cuts through the orchestra.”

Friedeon Rosén, Der Neue Merker

“In the short space of five years, Joseph Calleja has developed almost into a heroic ‘tenore di grazia’ and really sings phrases he can control from forte all the way down to the softest piano, and the flutter in his voice has faded into the background. The voice comes across almost as huge.”

Kurier

“What a voice, what poetry, what melodiousness, what radiance!”

Daniel Wagner, Wiener Zeitung

“An unmistakable golden-age tenor.”

Judith Malafronte, Opera News

“The voice itself is sweet and ringing, along the lines of Luciano Pavarotti (one of Calleja’s early heroes), with a quick vibrato that adds to his old-fashioned appeal.”

Neil Fisher, The Times

“The fabulous Joseph Calleja … made me think not of his elder co-star [Placido Domingo] but more of a young Pavarotti. In his care, the future of tenor singing looks pretty rosy.”

Everett Evans, The Houston Chronicle

“Calleja sings with such range, such ease and such a rolling, robust sound that every phrase is pure pleasure to hear. He projects extrovert exuberance and casual charm.”

Antony Craig, Gramophone

“Calleja is a glorious tenor.”