Calleja’s Rodolfo at Covent Garden this year was a real musical event. His latest recital disc for Decca revealed a superb vocalist with a secure technique and a voice of unique colour.

He’s clearly an artist of subtlety and style – it’s no wonder that he’s being sought by the great houses of the world. And his appearance at the Last Night of the Proms will do him no harm!

Joseph Calleja on the Last Night...and why real tenors shouldn't fear the big arias (Gramophone, July 2012)

'One of my most enduring Prom moments was when doing Simon Boccangera two summers ago. There was a father promming with a nine- or 10-year-old daughter who I thought was going to be bored stiff. But she was completely transfixed, so much so that when I went for the curtain calls I asked someone backstage for a chocolate for her. The expression on her face symbolised for me what’s so great about the Proms, the most famous music festival in the world.

'Of course I accept that by including ‘Nessun Dorma’ people will compare me with Pavarotti, but if you ask the Prom audience, listen, would you want to have ‘Nessun Dorma’ in the programme, they are all going to say yes. Obviously I’m not in competition with Pavarotti – I would definitely lose! It’s about doing a piece I love and, hopefully, giving pleasure. So many tenors have been pretty much butchering the piece on Britain’s Got Talent, with millions applauding, that if we real opera singers are not going to be singing these arias when we have millions listening there’s a problem.

'There’s a reason for the huge popularity of these warhorses of the tenor repertoire. They are so beautiful and invariably evoke emotion. As opera singers, we cannot be scared of the cameras and have to take advantage when millions are watching and listening because mass exposure to opera will mean more tickets sold.

'I know no tenor has done the Last Night fireworks for at least 30 years, but I’m going to play my full part. I’ll even have a special outfit for Rule Britannia – it’s going to be a surprise. It’s my first Last Night, but I’ve been at the Proms four times and I think there will still be good chemistry for a great evening of enjoyable music.

'I don’t accept that the Last Night’s a jingoistic anachronism. There’s absolutely nothing wrong in exploring forgotten repertoire and doing, let’s say, very highly sophisticated pieces and stuff like that, but the Last Night is the most coveted for a reason and I am honoured to have been chosen. 

'It’s any singer’s dream and will make my countrymen in Malta very proud.'

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