The Maltese tenor began singing at the age of 16, first in the church choir, then under the professional guidance of his teacher Paul Asciak. In 1997 he made his debut in Malta as Macduff (MACBETH) and in the same year was a prizewinner at the Belvedere Singing Competition. A year later he also won the Caruso competition, followed by Placido Domingo's Operalia.

He is now regarded as one of the most respected tenors of his generation. He sings at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Zurich Opera House, the Liceu Barcelona, the Saxon State Opera Dresden, the Seattle Opera, the Lyric Opera Chicago, the Los Angeles Opera, the New York MET , the Salzburg Festival and the festivals in Spoleto and Pesaro. He has made several guest appearances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with great success, for example as Edgardo in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR or as Nadir in the concert performance of Bizet's PECHEURS DE PERLES.

He is particularly in demand in roles such as Alfredo (LA TRAVIATA), Rodolfo (LA BOHEME), Nemorino (L' ELISIR D' AMORE), Elvino (LA SOMNAMBULA), Arturo (I PURITANI) and Herzog (RIGOLETTO). He received his first Grammy nomination for his interpretation of Alfredo at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, which was also recorded on DVD in 2009. Recently, Joseph Calleja could be seen in ROBERTO DEVEREUX and LA BOHEME at the Bavarian State Opera Munich, as Gounod's FAUST at the Metropolitan Opera New York and as Rodolfo, again at the Royal Opera House in London. The scenes of his success are now so numerous that they can hardly be named individually in a short time. Consistently, however, it can be stated that the young tenor from Malta seems to be following more and more in the footsteps of his famous (and revered) predecessors: "Jussi Björling, Beniamino Gigli and even Enrico Caruso" (Associated Press) are the legendary performers who impose themselves for comparison. Not to mention Mario Lanza, to whom Joseph Calleja dedicated his latest solo album “Be my love”, as always exclusively on Decca.