Exclusive footage of Joseph Calleja’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, interpreting the role of the Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, will be shown exclusively in tomorrow’s special edition of Bla Agenda on ONE TV at 8.30pm. An exclusive interview with Norman Hamilton in his dressing room minutes after he was given a standing ovation by nearly 4,000 opera-goers at the end of the opera will also feature in this TV show entitled New York, New York – A Success Story.

During this interview Joseph Calleja speaks about his future engagements in Europe and elsewhere. This season Joseph Calleja, besides making his Met debut in Rigoletto, has interpreted Nicias in Massenet’s Thais at Covent Garden, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor in Strasbourg and the title role of Roberto Devereux, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore and Alfredo in La Traviata with the Vienna State Opera. At 28, Joseph Calleja has already been to the world’s major opera houses, has had a successful 10-year career to his credit, two CDs released by Decca and a resume which includes stops at the world’s most renowned opera houses.

A Bla Agenda TV crew visited New York with the exclusive task of filming Joseph Calleja in one of the most renowned opera houses in the world. Other features in the programme will include other Maltese, less popular than Calleja, who made a success story in New York.

The Bla Agenda team will also visit the main tourist attractions in New York, including the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Centre, Times Square, “Ground Zero”, and Dakota Apartments where John Lennon was assassinated in December 1980. The programme will also feature Ellis Island which served as the country’s immigration depot from 1892 and 1954 and which greeted over 12 million immigrants from Europe, including thousands of Maltese and Gozitans eager for a better future in the US.

Norman Hamilton’s Bla Agenda TV Crew included Hermann Bonaci, Joe Borg and Pierre Cachia.