Award winning director, Paul Curran, is one of the most sought after stage directors of his generation. A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he was Artistic Director of the Norwegian National Opera from 2007 – 2011. Most recent and future engagements include Ariadne auf Naxos Teatro La Fenice and Teatro Verdi di Trieste, Tristan und Isolde San Fransisco Opera, Turandot Fondazione Petruzzelli Bari, Pique Dame and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Grange Festival Opera, The Golden Cockerel Dallas Opera, Il Trovatore Teatro Regio Torino, Tosca Canadian Opera Company, Carmen Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera and Irish National Opera, My Fair Lady for the Teatro di San Carlo Napoli and Teatro Massimo Palermo and Der fliegende Holländer Teatro Comunale di Firenze.
Production highlights include La Donna del Lago (DVD) Metropolitan Opera, New York and Santa Fe Opera; The Tsar’s Bride ROH Covent Garden; La traviata Opera Philadelphia; The Golden Cockerel Santa Fe Opera; La Cenerentola Teatro Maestranza Seville; Tristan und Isolde Teatro La Fenice Venice; Death in Venice Garsington Opera;; Becoming Santa Claus Dallas Opera; Der Fliegende Holländer Ekaterinburg Opera, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow Golden Mask Festival; Man of La Mancha Utah Opera, Faramondo Göttingen Händel Festival, Brisbane Baroque Festival; Die Zauberflöte for Norwegian National Opera; Rusalka at the New National Theatre Tokyo; Pagliacci Royal Danish Opera, Norwegian National Opera; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Otello Canadian Opera Company; Albert Herring Los Angeles Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Les Arts Valencia, Opera di Roma; Peter Grimes Savonlinna Opera Festival.
Other directorial credits: Tannhäuser Teatro alla Scala, Milan; La Bohème, Billy Budd, Albert Herring and Peter Grimes Santa Fe Opera; Die Frau ohne Schatten and Lulu Chicago Lyric Opera; Die Fledermaus and L’Incoronazione di Poppea Royal College of Music; Ariadne auf Naxos and Daphne Teatro La Fenice, Venice; Chérubin Cagliari; Peter Grimes and Otello Teatro Giuseppe Verdi, Trieste; Tosca Canadian Opera; Peter Grimes Washington Opera and Otello Welsh National Opera; Pastorale (world premiere) Stuttgart Opera; Tristan und Isolde BBC Symphony Orchestra; La Finta Giardiniera Garsington Opera; I Capuleti e i Montecchi Spoleto Festival USA; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Die Königskinder (Humperdinck) which won the Italian Critics’ Prize, Premio Abbiati, La Statira (Cavalli) and La Cenerentola Teatro San Carlo, Naples; The Miserly Knight (Rachmaninov) and Eine Florentinische Tragödie (Zemlinsky) Teatro Sao Carlos, Lisbon; Hamlet with designer Vivienne Westwood for the Clerkenwell Music Series, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Man of La Mancha at the Covent Garden Festival; A Little Night Music Columbus Ohio, The Bear (Chekhov) and The Rehearsal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at Disney Hall.
Massimiliano Becco Gagliardo
Mobile: +44 7780 006203
Email: max@atholestill.co.uk
Representation: World ex Italy, Spain and Portugal
News | Paul Curran
News | Paul Curran
"Mr. Curran, in his overdue Covent Garden debut, ensures that the modern accouterments are tellingly used to work hand-in-hand with a taut staging of the core drama."
George Loomis, New York Times.
"Paul Curran’s lavish production ignores the nostalgia for the ancien regime which Rimsky’s score emanates (the anthem “Slava!” functions as a leitmotiv and there are several pseudo-folk tunes). Instead he opts for a grittily contemporary approach, evoking the gloss and squalor of Putin’s Moscow through Kevin Knight’s magnificent sets (a posh restaurant, a back street, a penthouse suite, a gilded palace), complete with table-dancers and mafia heavies.
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Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph.
"A Russian rarity proves to be a real treasure in a production set amid the trappings of new money.”
…[a] compelling study of power and powerlessness in Curran's staging.
…this is a riveting performance of a violent, delirious melodrama.
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Anna Picard, The Independent.
"ALBERT HERRING
Los Angeles Opera, Cond. James Conlon
“Paul Curran’s production is terrific, particularly citing clever blocking and fluid set changes melding the acts together during interludes.”
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"Paul Curran’s staging observes much fine detail while relaying an expertly conceived overview; indeed, there are stretches of sheer virtuosity in his memorable handling of a story laden with interior darkness and ambiguity. "
The Stage
