Maestro Joseph Vella`s “Il-Kebbies Tal-Fanali” (Opus 18), composed in 1973 to words by Anton Buttigieg, thereafter appointed President of Malta (from 1976 to 1981), has been included in quite a few recent concerts featuring world famous tenor Joseph Calleja.

In 2017, for instance, it was performed by Joseph Calleja at the official opening concert of the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in Brussels, Belgium.

Joseph Calleja`s appreciation for Mro. Vella`s work continues with “Il-Kebbies Tal-Fanali” included in two additional prestigious events featuring Calleja as protagonist.

On April 19th 2019, this early work by Maestro Vella was included in the “Joseph Calleja Sings Arias” Concert forming part of the Budapest Spring Festival, Hungary`s most important arts festival. The concert featured the Orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera and took place at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall. The conductor of Calleja’s Budapest arias concert was Pier Giorgio Morandi, globe-trotting specialist of Romantic Italian operas.

“Il-Kebbies Tal-Fanali” will also be featured in the Riga Jurmala Music Festival, at the Dzintari Concert Hall, Latvia, on August 17th, 2019. Calleja will be performing other works by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Mozart, Leoncavallo and Tchaikovsky, amongst other composers, during the same concert.