Paul Curran

After a police investigation, a young mother, confused and scared, confesses to a crime she did not commit and is charged with murder.

An all-star cast assembled for the Met’s first-ever performances of Rossini’s romantic retelling of Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem The Lady of the Lake. Joyce DiDonato is Elena, the title heroine, who is being pursued by not one, but two tenors—setting off sensational vocal fireworks. Juan Diego Flórez is King James V of Scotland, disguised as the humble Uberto, and John Osborn sings his political enemy, and rival in love, Rodrigo Di Dhu. Complicating matters is the fact that Elena herself loves Malcolm, a trouser role sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona, and that she is the daughter of Duglas (Oren Gradus), another of the king’s political adversaries. Paul Curran’s atmospheric production is conducted by Michele Mariotti.

The Dutchman - Thomas Gazheli Senta - Marjorie Owens Daland - Mikhail Petrenko Erik - Bernhard Berchthold Mary - Annette Jahns Daland’s Steerman - Timothy Oliver Fiorentino Maggio Musicale Chorus (chorus master: Lorenzo Fratini)

Arthaus presents Rossini's popular comic opera, La Cenerentola, in a staging from the opera house in Naples. The operatic re-telling of this much loved fairy-tale centres on Cinderella's honesty and integrity, and on her willingness to forgive others, and to encourage those around her to be equally tolerant. Paul Curran's production presented to rapturous acclaim in Genoa in May 2006, finds a rather unusual setting for this moral tale. He sets the story in the year 1912, in his own words, "because I wanted to draw attention to social conflicts, and this was a period when class differences were very real".

This is one of the most enjoyable opera produced. The playful production by Paul Curran (Teatro Lirico di Cagliari [Sardinia]) has a wealth of clever touches, and the sets and costumes are lovely, whimsical, imaginative, and wonderfully captured. T The libretto for "Cherubin" (1905), an homage to Beaumarchais and da Ponte, takes up the story of the character Cherubino from Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" and shows him suffering his first great disappointment in love, his rejection by the courtesan/dancer Ensoleillad. All ends happily, however, as Cherubin finds his real destiny in Nina, a girl his own age. The story is tightly constructed, the text full of wit and humor in lighter moments and rapturous poetry in the love scenes, and the DVD's subtitles are expertly handled.

When a spirited peasant girl is promised to a stranger, she uses every last ounce of cunning and charm to thwart her parents’ plans and get the man she actually loves. From the vibrant overture to the riotous polka, Smetana places dance at the heart of his sparkling work. This festive celebration of Czech culture and identity is re-imagined into the heart of the English countryside with this new production at Garsington Opera.