|
The Irish mezzo-soprano, Paula Murrihy, first studied at the Dublin Institute of Technology Conservatory of Music and Drama in Dublin, graduating with a Bachelor in Music. She studied further at the New England Conservatory. She took part in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and the opera studio of the Santa Fe Opera. She also studied on a scholarship of the San Francisco Opera in the Merola Opera Program. She participated in Tanglewood in the 2003 Vocal Fellowship Program, appearing in the premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's opera Ainadamar, which she then also performed at Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. She was awarded the Anny Schlemm Prize for young female singers in 2011.
Paul Murrihy joined the ensemble of the Oper Frankfurt in 2009, where she performed the title role of Georges Bizet's Carmen in Barry Kosky’s iconic production and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss. Other roles there have included Polissena in George Frideric Handel's Radamisto, the Second Lady in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and Blanche in Prokofiev's Der Spieler. Title roles have included Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Antonio Cesti's L'Orontea, Hänsel in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, and Arthur Honegger's Judith, (March 2013), Pénélope in Fauré's Gabriel Fauré's Pénélope. She performed the role of Kreusa in the German premiere of Aribert Reimann's Medea in 2010, alongside Claudia Barainsky in the title role, recorded live.
Internationally Paula Murrihy is a regular guest at the world’s major opera houses and concert halls performing a wide variety of repertoire. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in March 2017 as Stephano in Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and appeared at the Santa Fe Opera as Prinz Orlowsky in Die Fledermaus (August 2017) and as Ruggiero in G.F. Handel's Alcina (July-August 2017). She has also appeard in Donna Elvira in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Concertgebouw (October 2019) and Idamante in Peter Sellars' production of W.A. Mozart's Idomeneo conducted by Teodor Currentzis at the Salzburg Festival (July 2019). She performed at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in a cycle of W.A. Mozart operas conducted by Teodor Currentzis (November 2015), as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro and as Dorabella in Così fan tutte. She returned to Frankfurt to sing the title role in G. Fauré's Pénélope, (December 2019-January 2020) and has recently appeared with the Dutch National Opera as Octavian Der Rosenkavalier (September 2015) and Sesto W.A. Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito (October 2017); at Opernhaus Zürich as Concepcion in L’heure Espagnole (January 2018) and Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro (October 2016); at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Frances, Countess of Essex in Benjamin Britten's Gloriana (April 2018); at Oper Frankfurt as the Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos (November 2018; and returned to her native Ireland to make her role debut as Judith in Béla Bartók's Bluebeard’s Castle for Irish National Opera (October 2018).
In 2020-2021 season, Paula Murrihy made her debut in the title role G.F. Handel's Ariodante in a livestreamed concert performance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Christian Curnyn (November 2020) and for her house debut at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow (July 2021). She made her debut as Orfeo in a concert performance of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Opera North, conducted by Laurence Cummings and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 (May 2021); and sang Dorabella in W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia. She opened her 2021-2022 season with a company debut singing Komponist in Katie Mitchell’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona. Later in the season she returned to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow to reprise the title role of Ariodante (July 2021), Palau de les Arts in Valencia to sing Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann conducted by Marc Minkowski (January 2022), and Irish National Opera as Carmen (March 2022). On the concert platform, she joined The English Concert to sing Micah in a performance of G.F. Handel's Samson in London (October 2021), as well as Ruggiero in G.F. Handel's Alcina in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and will sing the role of Arsamene Serse for a tour of Spain and the USA, with venues including Carnegie Hall. In Ireland she performed Berlioz Les Nuits d’Ete with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
In concert, Paula Murrihy has performed Lieder at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Wexford Festival and at New York's Carnegie Hall, among others. She performed J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (March 2021), and Paul Hindemith's orchestrated song cycle Das Marienleben with the Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Spain (April 2015). On January 12, 2012, she participated in the premiere of John Harbison's Symphony No. 6, a commission of the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Zinman. She took part in a 2017 recital with songs for voice, viola and piano in the Sendesaal of the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt, singing the two songs by Johannes Brahms and rarely performed works by Adolf Busch and Siegmund von Hausegger.
An accomplished recitalist, Paula Murrihy has given performances at the Wigmore Hall with Malcolm Martineau, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Shannon International Music Festival, the Chancellor’s Concert at the University of Limerick, in Frankfurt and at the Diaghilev Festival in Perm. Last season she released her debut solo album with American pianist Tanya Blaich on Orchid Classics. Titled “I will walk with my love, “the disc explores folk inspired songs and myths and features works by Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, Debussy and Grieg, as well as traditional Irish folksong.
Highlights of the 2022-2023 season include a return to the Salzburg Festival in a concert performance of Abramo Ed Isacco with Collegium 1704 (July 2022) and Donna Elvira for Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (September 2022). |
