Joseph Calleja is a Maltese tenor whose repertoire spans Italian and French opera, orchestral concerts and song recitals. Born in Malta in 1978, he began singing in a church choir before studying with tenor Paul Asciak. His stage debut came at nineteen as Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Astra Theatre in Malta. Roles including Rodolfo in La bohème, Cavaradossi in Tosca, the Duke in Rigoletto and the title character in Gounod’s Faust have taken him to companies such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House and the Bavarian State Opera. His recordings range from complete operas to solo programmes, including the sacred-music album Ave Maria, released in 2023.
His recent schedule continues to connect staged opera with concert performance. A 25 August 2026 announcement from his management listed him for the Staatsoper Hannover’s season-opening concert on 29 August, with arias and duets by Bizet, Donizetti, Massenet and Puccini under Francesco Angelico. For October 2026, Wexford Festival Opera lists Calleja as Osaka in Mascagni’s Iris on 15, 23, 28 and 31 October, in a production directed by Rosetta Cucchi and conducted by Francesco Cilluffo. These engagements place familiar nineteenth-century repertoire alongside a less frequently staged work, reflecting the range of his operatic practice.