Paula Murrihy
Mezzo-soprano
© Barbara Aumüller
The Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2017, as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette. Now she's back at Oper Frankfurt, where she was a member of the Ensemble from 2009 – 2017, to sing Dejanira in Barrie Kosk's new production of Handel's Hercules. She returned recently for the title role in a new production of Fauré's Pénélope and repeat her portrayal of Polissena in Radamisto. Other roles with which she enjoyed great success in Frankfurt included the leading ladies in Carmen, Dido and Aeneas and Cesti's L'Orontea (available on CD - OehmsClassics), Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), the Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel). She returned to Covent Garden recently for Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and made her debut at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, with Carmen. She sang the Countess of Essex in Britten's Gloriana at English National Opera and rounds the season off with Messaggeria in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in Santa Fe. Other recent engagements have included appearances at Zurich Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Nationale Opera and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Staatsoper in Stuttgart, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and Los Angeles and Edinburgh festivals. Future plans include Didon in Les Troyens on tour with John Elliot Gardiner and the Prince in Massenet's Cendrillon when making her debut at the Opéra National de Paris. She works regularly with Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna, most recently on Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn, at La Scala Milan, in Munich and Budapest. Her first solo album, I will walk with my love (Orchid Classics), with the American pianist Tanya Blaich, was released in 2020. A sought-after Lieder singer, she made her debut at the Wigmore Hall in 2019, where she has appeared with Malcolm Martineau and Sholto Kynoch.
Find out more about Paula Murrihy on her website