Paul Curran
Director
The award-winning director Paul Curran graduated in Directing from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. From 2007 to 2012, he was Artistic Director of the Norwegian National Opera. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the American Guild of Musical Artists.
His most recent productions include Tristan und Isolde at the San Francisco Opera and Teatro La Fenice, Venice; Fedra at the Greek Theatre in Syracuse; Ariadne auf Naxos at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Verdi in Trieste and Venice; Peter Grimes in Venice and at the Savonlinna Festival; La Donna del lago (also on DVD) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; The Tsar's Bride at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; La Traviata and Carmen at Opera Philadelphia; The Golden Cockerel at the Santa Fe Opera and Dallas Opera; My Fair Lady at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Der Fliegende Holländer at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and in Bologna, at the Yekaterinburg Opera, Bolshoi Theatre, and the Golden Mask Festival in Moscow; La Cenerentola at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville; Death in Venice at Garsington Opera; the world premiere of Becoming Santa Claus at the Dallas Opera; The Man of La Mancha at Utah Opera; Faramondo at the Göttingen Handel Festival and Brisbane Baroque Festival; Die Zauberflöte for the Norwegian National Opera; Rusalka at the New National Theatre Tokyo; Pagliacci at the Royal Danish Opera and Norwegian National Opera; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Tosca and Otello at the Canadian Opera Company; Albert Herring at Los Angeles Opera and Santa Fe; A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia and Teatro dell'Opera di Roma; Baden Baden 1927 at the Gotham Chamber Opera in New York; La Bohème at Wolf Trap; Carmen at Seattle Opera and Irish National Opera; The Bartered Bride at Garsington Opera; Iolanta at Chicago Opera Theater. In recent months, he opened the 2025 Season of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna with La Fanciulla del West and the 2025-2026 Season of Teatro La Fenice in Venice with La Clemenza di Tito, and directed Die Fledermaus for The Grange Festival.
Other directorial credits include: Tannhäuser at Teatro alla Scala in Milan; La Bohème and Billy Budd in Santa Fe; Die Frau ohne Schatten and Lulu at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Ariadne auf Naxos at Flanders Opera in Antwerp; I Lombardi alla prima crociata at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze; L'Incoronazione di Poppea at the Royal College of Music in London; Daphne (DVD) in Venice; Chérubin (DVD) in Cagliari; Otello in Trieste and at the Welsh National Opera; Tosca at the Canadian Opera; Peter Grimes in Washington; Pastorale (world premiere) in Stuttgart; Il Trovatore (DVD) in Rome, Bologna and at the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo; Tristan und Isolde for the BBC Symphony Orchestra; La Finta Giardiniera at Garsington Opera; I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Spoleto Festival USA; Die Königskinder (Abbiati Prize of the Italian Critics), La Statira and La Cenerentola (DVD) at Teatro San Carlo, Naples; Mirandolina and Eva in Wexford; The Miserly Knight and Eine Florentinische Tragödie at the Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon; Prince Igor and Tosca at the Mariinsky Theatre; the UK premiere of Kullervo (Sallinen) and I Gioielli della Madonna at UCO London; 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 (also on CD), A Little Night Music in Columbus, The Bear and The Rehearsal (a new piece, as both author and director) with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall.
He makes his debut at the Arena di Verona directing La Traviata, the opening opera of the 103° Festival 2026.
Biography updated to July 2026
