Met Stars: Diana Damrau & Joseph Calleja

Two audience favorites, soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Joseph Calleja have had few opportunities to sing together on the Met stage, so their dual appearance in the Met Stars Live in Concert series offered fans around the globe a true operatic treat. Accompanied by pianist Roberto Moreschi, the exceptional duo performed a program of favorite arias and duets, many taken from operas that they have not yet sung with the company. Opening with excerpts from Puccini’s Tosca—which were perfectly complemented by the concert’s venue, the magnificent Baroque Cappella Palatina of Italy’s Royal Palace of Caserta—Damrau and Calleja then moved on to popular selections by Donizetti, Verdi, Rossini, and Bizet. Then, after Damrau dazzled with an aria from Kálmán’s operetta Gräfin Mariza, the pair regaled viewers with the popular songs “Granada” and “Non ti scordar di me” and closed their performance with a moving rendition of Gounod’s setting of the Ave Maria.