Joseph Calleja is one of the world’s foremost tenors. He has performed in numerous operatic roles, solo performances and concerts to great acclaim and has scooped up several major international awards, since his early operatic debut at 19 years of age at the Astra Theatre in Gozo. He is a recording artist with one of the top recording labels and has been nominated for the Grammy awards. Much sought after, his life is a whirlwind of appearances on the major stages of the world. From the Met in New York to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden he is constantly lauded and his golden voice is compared to history’s greats. He is in fact considered the successor to Pavarotti. Gregarious and outgoing, his social media accounts chart his travels and his performances but also his personal life and his island home of Malta, which remains his base. He is known worldwide as ‘The Maltese tenor’ and his connections with our country include representing Malta as its first ever cultural ambassador as well as philanthropic activities to open the world’s doors to our young musicians. 

Joseph Paul Cassar is an artist and art historian whose studies have taken him from Africa to Australia, and he now resides and lectures in North America.  He is a specialist on African and Modern European art and lectures at prestigious institutions and Universities in and around Washington DC. But his heart lies in the modern period of Maltese art, and amongst his many, many published studies he has produced two landmark publications that chart the rise of modernism in the visual arts in Malta. He has curated a number of important exhibitions and is an active artist, who has exhibited widely. In 2019, he was awarded the Gold medal of the Malta Society of Arts. 

Michael Zammit is a poet and a philosopher who has a tendency to look East. He has mastered the difficult language of Sanskrit, and has studied and written extensively about it. He draws lessons from the great philosophical traditions of the East and finds connections with that of the West, using the East as his starting point. He has translated and adapted into Maltese a number of texts including several for the theatre and continues to lecture on both Western and Eastern philosophy in various institutions including the University of Malta where he is Professor. He has in fact been involved in academia throughout his life. He set up the Philosophy Department at Junior College, co-founded The Malta Classics Association where he also served as president, he is a member of various boards and was instrumental in setting up the Systems of Knowledge course for pre-University students. He was one of the founding members of Philosophy Sharing, that has now become the University Philosophy Department’s outreach taking the philosophical conversation to the general public. His publications are endless and his research is ongoing, including participating in international organisations such as his membership of the Scientific Board of the Elémire Zolla International Research Society.