Joseph Calleja - Ingemisco - Verdi Requiem - BBC Proms 2011 

...mi commuove profondamente. È l'unico tra i tenori contemporanei che mi tocca direttamente il cuore. Grazie. BRAVO!!!!!

Joseph Calleja is a true virtuoso with masses of talent. One of the most powerful voices in the world today.

One of the best versions I have seen.....and felt. Love that aria and love the projection of his voice

I cry for joy when I hear a voice like this,that comes along a few times in a century.

this is breathtakingly beautiful! such an honest singer, very moving ... a class of its own!!

Bravo davvero, gran bella voce!!!!Grazie Maestro!!!!

This is simply sublime singing - at last a truly great tenor to take the mantle of the past greats.

I just love the way his voice is keeping together in all registers!

Bravo. Well said. In person this voice oscillates all around your head, and from 15 feet made my eardrums hurt. A microphone voice this is not.

This is indeed excellent singing! Nothing wrong with the top- perfect.

I think you are outnumbered here, as most of us know we are listening to a special voice.

Fantastic voice! The BEST!

Wow a real connaisseur! I love to hear you perform this fragment. Because Joseph's performance is so close to perfection, yours must be perfect!

Une voix merveilleuse

I have heard studio recordings where he sings beautifully but dispassionately, which I find uninteresting. But this is amazing - it literally gave me goosebumps

Fantastic! From the greatest!👍❤👌✌💛

Very beautiful well done

Fantastic!

His Voice ...... Phenomenal . It makes me proud to be Maltese

Très jolie voix !! Je l'aime beaucoup !!! Merci

Meglio!!! Thank you for posting this

Bravo Calleja !!!!! Magnifica Voz !!!! *****

Sehr sehr schön!

Excellent

bravo!

He is a great artist, because he serves music and uses his voice to bring Verdi's great masterpiece to life, with perfect Verdian style and phrasing. He sings with an open throat, perfect intonation and a refined passion. I don't give a rat's ass about the size of his voice, it's big enough to bounce off the last row at The Met, that's proof enough!

Beautiful voice.

A great Lyrico Spinto Tenor...lovely Guy too

Wunderbar!

Wonderful control of upper and lower register, by far and away the most beautiful tenor voice I have ever heard, and that includes all the great tenors of the past.

Superb voice. The closest anyone has ever got to Bjorling in my opinion. I love his effortless style. Hits all the right notes for me.

Exceptional performance.

Microphones are for recording - not for amplifying. The proms are on TV, and guess how the sound you are hearing was recorded ...

I prefer this version to that of Pavarotti in 1967. Calleja puts much more feeling into the performance. Pavarotti had a perfect voice but didn't always convey the meaning of the text. When Calleja gets to "Give me a place among your flock" I get chills. Ann Harrington.

Calleja is a superb singer with just the right amount of vibrato(NO FLUTTER), size of voice, and warmth of tone. You nay-sayers are a sorry lot, and I, for one, denounce you!! He needs NO MICROPHONES to be heard!

THE TÉNOR !

Completely disagree with you, an excellent voice that project well in the house and has real beauty. You have grasped on what makes him unique and tried to make it into a negative thing.

is that in reference to the Hadley version?

fantastic!

Great video, great aria, great voice! Who is the director? His face looks familiar to me.

That's not true. Plenty of singers are still filling the 2000-4000 seat opera halls with sound, including those you mentioned. Perhaps a re-wording is in order: Most of the stars "who make it on RU-vid" today are microphone stars.

No, js59695, I had not heard of Hadley, and my response was due to comments by AfroPoli. My favourite tenor is, and always has been, Jussi Bjorling, but I was struck by Joseph's voice which I enjoy very much, and yes i did feel there was a little bit of Yussi there.

It is true that microphones can be hidden in clothing or hair. However, I disagree that you can't tell they are being used. When you are sitting in the opera house, it is usually pretty straightforward for the discriminating listener to tell if a singer may be miked. If you are sitting in the same room with a singer in private, you can tell the size of the voice in person.

One never knows if someone is using a microphone, because they are often wireless and tiny as a few mm cross section, mostly hidden from sight in hair or makeup.

I'm really sorry to read so much nonsense about this very special singer. As he has a very characteristic timbre, somebody might like him, somebody not. But all these comments about a "tiny voice which needs a mic" are totally absurd. I heard him yesterday in Lucia, he was the only singer who had no problem with the ugly acustic of the Gasteig concert hall in Munich. Only a well-focussed voice can produce this effect.

Did you hear them both live?

Magnifique ténor Emouvant Je pense que Verdi peut être content...

has anyone listened to the Hadley version? Best Ive heard.

So very true. The audience has forgotten how to listen. As much as I detest using a microphone as a performer I detest it even more as a listener. The average concert experience has become offensively loud. An audience today would have no appreciation for the power of Del Monaco or Nilsson because with a microphone Juan Diego Flores can be as loud as Corelli.

That's an interesting quote, and really spot on. Zarah Leander had a song which was called "Good microphones". She sang: "Nowadays you just need good microphones and a tiny, tiny voice". Most of the stars today a microphone stars: Florez, Kaufmann, Calleja, Schrott etc.... it's a shame.

"opera singers are some of the least religious people in the world." Huh? And where did you find that info. Over half the professionals I sing with are religious. How do you know he isnt religious?

Mihi quoque spem dedisti!

And you, unfortunately, are outnumbered by the fans of Potts and Bocelli who believe to know exactly the same thing as you seem to do.

Hij mag mijn mis ook zingen !

Yes, they have not to fight with big halls, or open air without micro as l did.

My friend, you and I are of like mind. However, Marilyn Horne predicted our extinction in the following quote: "The microphones are coming. It’s just a matter of time before the older generation that understands what a disaster microphones would be is safely out of the way. And when they come, that'll be the beginning of the end. Who will really learn to sing? There won't be any need to... There is no market for a good sound"

I hear the flutter yes. He always had a fast vibrato, which I never minded, but something has changed about his breathing and his appoggio. I also hear a pronounced shortness of breath - though in other recordings more than here. It´s a voice that carries well, but I find the lower register is not as compact as Björling´s.

Next.

A worthy successor to Pavarotti IMHO.

Does anyone else hear the flutter? He was a beast of a singer in his younger years but his nasality and forward placement and helped him develop a flutter. A Bjoerling color yes. But Bjoerling's successor, not so much.

Whether one likes this or that singer is a matter in great part of subjective opinion as well as objective measurable effects. USA and UK "ears" have a distinct dislike of almost any vibrato, far more than Mediterranean "ears". Calleja has vibrato. He does not have flutter. He also has a nasality at times, also not favoured by USA / UK ears. To say he has a weak voice is factually ignorant. To suggest he has a microphone voice is worse than ignorant; go listen to him live at an opera.

With poor sound systems it may be obvious, yes, I agree, but, in a theater, as long as it sounds rather natural, you just can't know. People who are totally convinced someone like Mr. Calleja is never miked, just can't tell, a good audio system run by good engineers can be very convincing.

vocalità poco adatta à questo capolavoro.

Jussi is my favorite tenor too. I could see how u might enjoy Calleja but it will get worse if he continues to sing his top like this. almost like di Stefano but not as spread it will happen too many of the other tenors too the young ones. It just isnt taught anymore. Tenors now are taught to narrow and close especially in the high voice. Unfortunate

VOZ PEQUEÑA????? COMO SE VE QUE NO LO HAN VISTO CANTAR PERSONALMENTE, Y MENOS SIN MICROFONO, ADEMAS QUE TENOR CON VOZ PEQUEÑOS CANTA VERDI??? PARA CANTAR UN VERDI SE NECESITA POR LO MENOS 120 MUSICOS. SI TUVIERA VOZ PEQUEÑA LOS MUSICOS LO TAPARIAN. CALLEJAS NO TIENE VOZ PEQUEÑA, LO PUEDO ASEGURAR. LOS QUE HEMOS ESTADO TANTO EN PRIMERA FILA COMO EN CAZUELA LO PODEMOS DECIR A CIENCIA CIERTA.

I heard live both Bjorling and Calleja,Calleja has definitely more volumen than Bjorling

Calleja has a weak, badly focused, nasal and bleating light voice. He has nothing to do with Verdi. He should not touch Verdi. People who compare him to Björling do not know what they're talking about.

AfroPoli's assessment of Calleja's voice is correct. I wish Calleja all the luck in the world; I'd pay to hear him sing. But to compare him to Bjorling is a ridiculous nonsensical absurdity. The discriminating ear, as well as true opera singers, is fast becoming a thing of the past. We live in the age of pretty singers, small voices and big microphones. The unwashed are then led to the next superstar with advertising hyperbole. Where are the loggionisti when you need them?

He is not too bad, good color but too much vibrato for my liking.