MEET THE TEAM
Joseph Calleja
Patron
Joseph Calleja Facebook page, click here.
Blessed with a golden age voice that routinely inspires comparisons to “legendary singers from earlier eras: Jussi Björling, Beniamino Gigli, even Enrico Caruso” (Associated Press), Maltese-born tenor Joseph Calleja has quickly become one of the most acclaimed and sought-after tenors today. His expansive discography and frequent appearances on the world’s leading opera and concert stages prompted NPR to hail him as “arguably today’s finest lyric tenor”, and led to his being voted Gramophone magazine’s 2012 Artist of the Year. He is a Grammy-nominated recording artist for Decca Classics, the recipient of the 2014 International Opera Awards Readers’ Award and the recipient of the 2016 Opera News Award.
Having sung an impressive 28 leading roles to date, he is noted for his portrayals of Verdi’s Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and Alfredo in La traviata; Rodolfo in Puccini’s La bohème and B. F. Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly; Donizetti’s Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, and Leicester in Maria Stuarda; the title characters of Gounod’s Faust and Roméo et Juliette; Tebaldo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi; and Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
As an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist since 2003, the tenor boasts an extensive discography that includes complete operas and concert repertoire, as well as five solo albums: The Golden Voice, Tenor Arias, The Maltese Tenor, Be My Love: A Tribute to Mario Lanza, and Amore. His videography enjoys similar success, and it was his portrayal of Alfredo in the Royal Opera House’s DVD/ Blu-ray release of La traviata, in which he co-stars with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, that earned Calleja his first Grammy nomination. His rendition of the Verdi aria “La donna è mobile” is featured on the soundtrack of No Reservations, a 2007 motion picture starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. He made his Hollywood debut in 2014’s The Immigrant, in which he portrays the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso in a cast with Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jeremy Renner. Calleja has been profiled in New York’s Wall Street Journal and London’s Times, among other newspapers, and has graced covers of magazines such as Opera News. An increasingly frequent face on television, he has appeared on such programs as CNN’s Business Traveller, BBC Breakfast, Sky Arts’ South Bank Show and the Andrew Marr Show, and been featured in numerous internationally televised concerts.
For a detailed biography visit: www.josephcalleja.com.
Watch Joseph Calleja:
E lucevan le stelle from Tosca – click here.
Mattinata with Nicola Benedetti at Last Night of the Proms 2012 – click here.
Drake Calleja Trust Scholars – click here.
James JP Drake
Director
In 2015, James established The Drake Calleja Trust as part of his long term philanthropy programme. The Drake Calleja Trust came into operation on 1st September 2015 under the management of Vicky Yannoula, Head of Scholarships & Artistic Planning. Since then the Trust has completed three application calls (2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18) and has awarded fifty-nine scholarships in total to exceptionally talented students of undergraduate, postgraduate and research level.
In addition. James is the Founder and Chairman of The Future Science publishing group and also launched The Drake Foundation in 2014. The Future Science Group focuses on breakthrough medical, biotechnological and scientific research and The Drake Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation committed to improving evidence-based measures for the understanding of concussion injuries in sport, based on scientific research.
Website: jamesdrake.com
“James Drake and Joseph Calleja meet for the first time with the bronze figure of legendary tenor Enrico Caruso in the background. It was at this meeting that the Drake Calleja Trust was conceived.”