Paul Curran News

Los Angeles Opera always has interesting items online that help opera lovers keep up with their favorite art. Since the cancellation of Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Music Director James Conlon has written a blog telling readers why it needs to be played and heard by audiences everywhere. The blog also gives us a clip from David McVicar's production at Scottish Opera. Theirs is the production that was to come to us in LA. 

Opera Philadelphia's 2020-2021 season launches in September with fourth annual Festival O, featuring new commission from Jennifer Higdon, a new production starring Sondra Radvanovsky, and more.

Opera Philadelphia launches the 2020-2021 season with the fourth iteration of the trailblazing Festival O, the only American festival nominated for a 2020 International Opera Award. O20 comprises a wide variety of operatic happenings at multiple venues across the city this September. The company announced its full 2020-21 season, which includes the world premiere of a new commission, a major new production of one of opera's great classics, and a host of A-list artists making their company and role debuts.

The International Opera Awards today announced the finalists for its 2020 Awards [Wednesday 5 February 2020]. The annual red-carpet event - which celebrates achievement in opera around the globe over the 2019 calendar year - recognises excellence in a wide range of categories that cover performance, design and direction as well as education and outreach.

The Grange Festival 2020 season, announced today on the opening night of their 2019 Festival, is set to start on 5 June 2020 with an exciting new programme of opera and dance at The Grange, Hampshire. Their residency partnership with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra continues next year with the orchestra accompanying all productions at the 2020 Festival.

We haven't seen a lot of Smetana's The Bartered Bride in the UK recently. Bohemia's best-loved opera is rapidly becoming one of the repertoire's best-kept secrets, which is a shame because it's an enchanting comedy, whose colourful, folk-filled score might be propelled by exotic polka rhythms, but whose human drama feels deliciously close to home.

Bizet's Carmen is often labeled as a sexy opera. The leading lady is a woman who sings unabashedly of her appetite for l'amour, cigarette smoke billowing from her lips. And the music some of the most iconic in the art form can't help but get under one's skin; it's that tuneful and seductive. This May, Seattleites will be able to experience this titillating opera for themselves through a new production of Carmen under the baton of Maestro Giacomo Sagripanti, who returns following The Barber of Seville ('17). Renowned British director Paul Curran and production designer Gary McCann will treat audiences to lavish sets and a multitude of stylish factory girls, townsfolk, smugglers, soldiers, and toreadors.

Chicago Opera Theater (COT) will kick off the 2018/2019 season with "Iolanta," a Chicago premiere of legendary composer P.I. Tchaikovsky's final opera. Internationally renowned and award-winning conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya will make her conducting debut as Chicago Opera Theater's Staley Music Director and set the tone for the season to come. Acclaimed stage director Paul Curran, known for his work at Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera Chicago and more, will shape the retelling of this joyous love-story, featuring an almost entirely Chicago-based cast including soprano Katherine Weber as Iolanta, and renowned Russian bass Mikhail Svetlov as Rene. The opening night and press performance takes place on Saturday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Studebaker Theater (410 S. Michigan Ave.) Additional performances will take place Thursday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 18 at 3 p.m.

On the heels of its tremendously successful twelve-day immersive O17 festival last fall, as well as a stunning production of George Benjamin's phenomenal critical sensation Written on Skin earlier this spring, Opera Philadelphia closes out its season with one of the world's most popular operas, Bizet's masterpiece, Carmen. In the title role is mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, who opened Opera Philadelphia's 2017-2018 season with a "vocally formidable" (Philadelphia Inquirer) and "brilliant" performance (Opera News) in the title role of the world premiere of Elizabeth Cree. Directed by Paul Curran, who led 2015's acclaimed La traviata, this new production of Carmen will enliven the Academy of Music for five performances, April 27-May 6.

The Dallas Opera is pleased to announce that American baritone Craig Verm will perform the role of Don Giovanni in the three remaining performances of a critically acclaimed production from Lyric Opera of Chicago.  The Charron and Peter Denker Rising Star was originally cast as Masetto in this star-studded international cast. 

Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, who opened Opera Philadelphia's 2017-2018 season with a "vocally formidable" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and "brilliant" performance (Opera News) in the title role of the new opera Elizabeth Cree, returns this spring to close out the season in the title role of one of the world's most popular operas, Bizet's masterpiece, Carmen. Directed by Paul Curran, who led 2015's acclaimed La traviata, this new production of Carmen will enliven the Academy of Music for five performances, April 27-May 6.

The Dallas Opera is proud to present one of the most talked about Mozart productions of the decade: DON GIOVANNI in a critically acclaimed production created by Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls for Lyric Opera of Chicago and conducted by Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume.

The Dallas Opera is proud to present the initial mainstage offering of the 2017-2018 Motives Unmasked! Season: Camille Saint-Sa ns' glorious nineteenth-century grand opera, SAMSON & DALILA, opening with The Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance on Friday, October 20, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. (note special curtain time), the first of five performances in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Downtown Dallas. Saint-Sa ns' 1877 masterpiece features a tremendous ensemble cast that includes Russian superstar Olga Borodina, Clifton Forbis, Richard Paul Fink, Michael Chioldi and Ryan Kuster.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the eagerly awaited DVD and Blu-ray release of Mark Adamo's critically acclaimed new holiday opera, BECOMING SANTA CLAUS, distributed exclusively through CD Baby.

21C Media Group has announced highlights from its 2017-18 selection of opera, vocal and choral music, featuring concerts, special events, broadcasts and recordings. Scroll down for details!

21C Media Group has announced highlights from its 2017-18 selection of opera, vocal and choral music, featuring concerts, special events, broadcasts and recordings. Scroll down for details!

New York City Opera's 2017/2018 season will offer four new mainstage productions at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, including a Spanish-language opera as part of its Ópera en Español series. City Opera will also offer two New York City Opera Concerts in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and a chamber opera series at locations to be announced. New York City Opera Orchestra will be featured in every opera.

The Canadian Opera Company closes its 2016/2017 season with Puccini's beloved Tosca. A tense drama of passion and betrayal, Tosca returns in a COC production performed with two of today's great divas in the title role: internationally renowned Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka and critically acclaimed American soprano Keri Alkema.

The Canadian Opera Company closes its 2016/2017 season with Puccini's beloved Tosca. A tense drama of passion and betrayal, Tosca returns in a COC production performed with two of today's great divas in the title role: internationally renowned Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka and critically acclaimed American soprano Keri Alkema.

Opera Philadelphia's 2017-2018 Season opens with a twelve-day festival that transforms the city into a stage for the future of opera, as six venues come alive with the talents of dozens of spectacular artists in more than 25 performances. The inaugural festival, O17, takes place from September 14-25, and promises opera lovers and newcomers a fresh way to experience the art form.