Paula Murrihy

This season’s highlights include a return to Frankfurt Opera as Dejanira in Barrie Kosky’s revival of Hercules, the role of Waitress in a new production of Kaija Saariaho Innocence at the Semperoper Dresden, Béatrice in Berlioz Béatrice et Bénédict at Irish National Opera, Komponist in Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos at the Opéra de Rouen, Fox in Janáček Cunning Little Vixen at the Opéra de Paris, Dido in Purcell Dido & Aeneas at Ireland’s Blackwater Valley Opera Festival and Sesto in concert performances of Handel Giulio Cesare on tour in the US with Harry Bicket and The English Concert.  Other concert highlights include performances of Josef Mysliveček’s oratorio Abramo ed Isacco with Collegium 1704 cond. Václav Luks on tour to Prague, Dresden and Amsterdam, Mozart Requiem with the Camerata Salzburg cond. Jane Glover and Berg Sieben frühe Lieder with the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra cond. Leo McFall. Murrihy also performs in recital at the National Concert Hall, Dublin accompanied by Dearbhla Collins and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam accompanied by her long-standing collaborator, Tanya Blaich. 
 
Last season, Murrihy made her role and company debut as Prince Charmant Cendrillon at the Opéra de Paris, returned to Santa Fe Opera as Octavian Der Rosenkavalier and reprised the role of Dejanira Hercules at the Komische Oper Berlin, following her acclaimed performance in Barry Kosky’s production premiere at Oper Frankfurt the previous season. In concert, Murrihy sang Mozart Requiem in Chicago with Music of the Baroque conducted by Jane Glover, Sandström The High Mass with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Ryan Bancroft, and Marguerite in a concert performance of Le Damnation de Faust with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. She also performed solo recitals, both at Oper Frankfurt and at London’s Wigmore Hall.   
 
Further recent operatic highlights include Donna Elvira Don Giovanni at Covent Garden directed by Kasper Holten, title role Carmen for her company debut at Det Kongelige Teater Copenhagen, Komponist in Katie Mitchell’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, title role Ariodante at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow and in a livestreamed concert performance at Covent Garden cond. Christian Curnyn, her debut as Orfeo in a concert performance of Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice with Opera North conducted by Laurence Cummings, her company debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Stéphano Roméo et Juliette, Idamante in Peter Sellars’ production of Idomeneo for the Salzburg Festival, Ruggiero Alcina and Orlofsky Die Fledermaus for Santa Fe Opera, Nicklausse Les Contes d’Hoffmann conducted by Marc Minkowski and Dorabella Cosi fan tutte both at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, the title role in Fauré Pénélope for Frankfurt Opera, Sesto La Clemenza di Tito and Octavian Der Rosenkavalier for Dutch National Opera, Concepcion L’heure Espagnole and Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro for the Opernhaus Zürich, Countess of Essex in Britten Gloriana for Teatro Real Madrid and for English National Opera, Dido Dido and Aeneas for Los Angeles Opera, Octavian Der Rosenkavalier at Staatsoper Stuttgart and appearances in her native Ireland as Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle, title role Carmen and Octavian Der Rosenkavalier with Irish National Opera. 
 
Murrihy has toured extensively on the concert platform, more recently performing as Didon for a European tour of Berlioz Les Troyens alongside the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, conducted by Dinis Sousa, closing with a performance at the BBC Proms. She joined a European tour of St John Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; joined Harry Bicket and The English Concert Orchestra as Micah in a performance of Handel Samson in London, Ruggiero Alcina in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and as Arsamene Serse for a tour of Spain and the US, with venues including Carnegie Hall, New York. She has also has worked frequently alongside MusicAeterna and Teodor Currentzis, with performances including Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Purcell Indian Queen, Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Mahler Kindertotenlieder, Hindemith Die Junge Magd and Das Knaben Wunderhorn. 
 
Additional concert highlights include Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro with the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston, Stravinsky Pulcinella with the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Haydn Paukenmesse at the BBC Proms, works by Tommaso Traetta with La Nuova Musica and David Bates at the Wigmore Hall, the role of Sara in Mysliveček oratorio Abramo ed Isacco alongside Collegium 1704 at the Salzburg Festival and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Sir Mark Elder and the Britten Sinfonia. She has performed Berlioz Les Nuits d’Ete with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Messiah with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Elijah with the Spanish National Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Christmas Oratorio with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Handel Solomon, Alexander’s Feast and Honneger Judith for the Nederlandse Programma Stichting, and Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In the United States she has worked with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where she premiered John Harbison Symphony No. 6, the Philadelphia Orchestra for Handel Messiah, the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven Symphony No. 9, the Handel and Haydn Society as Juno/Ino in Semele and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra in performances of Bach St Matthew Passion. 
 
An accomplished recitalist, Murrihy has given performances at the Wigmore Hall with both Malcolm Martineau and Sholto Kynoch, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Shannon International Music Festival, the Chancellor’s Concert at the University of Limerick, in Frankfurt and at the Diaghilev Festival in Perm. In 2020 she released her debut solo album I will walk with my love with American pianist Tanya Blaich for Orchid Classics. The recording explores folk inspired songs and myths and features works by Brahms, Mahler, Debussy and Grieg, as well as traditional Irish folksong.  

2024/25 season / 1062 words. Not to be altered without permission.