The Maltese star tenor Joseph Calleja celebrated his 38th birthday with this all-Verdi concert, accompanied by the Philharmonia under the Spanish conductor Ramón Tebar. The focus on one single composer gave the event a more solid identity than mixed-aria programmes usually possess, even if the result inevitably felt somewhat bitty.
At 38, Calleja has achieved a great deal, and his fans were out in force to celebrate with him. One of the world’s leading lyric tenors, he continues to plan his career wisely, moving steadily up into the heavier vocal assignments represented here by Gustavo’s valedictory last-act aria from Un Ballo in Maschera and Gabriele Adorno’s furious denunciation of the Doge in Simon Boccanegra. Both are now in his active stage repertoire, though Calleja’s second-half selections – extracts from Il Trovatore, I Lombardi, Luisa Miller and Aida – are still to come in his career. By and large, he seems ready for any of them, while maintaining that the uniquely challenging Otello is still at least 10 years off.
Despite an admission that he was recovering from sinusitis, Calleja was on excellent vocal form, his healthy tone ringing out vigorously throughout the range. But we could have done with more light and shade. At the end of Celeste Aida, he produced the whispered top B flat Verdi asks for, but the softer singing he can do so magically was not as evident throughout the programme as it could have been. The tender Ah Sì, Ben Mio from Il Trovatore felt too hearty. He’s a fine singer, but Calleja could be an even greater artist than he showed himself here.
The Philharmonia was on dutiful form under Tebar in their selection of overtures, preludes and ballet music, though there were too many untidy moments.
