Recent highlights include her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette, and a return to Santa Fe Opera as Ruggiero in Alcina and Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. She made her first appearance at the Salzburg Festival as 2nd Dame in Die Zauberflöte, and opened the 2019 Salzburg Festival as Idamante in Peter Sellar’s Idomeneo with Teodor Currentzis conducting. Paula has appeared with the Dutch National Opera as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito, at Opernhaus Zurich as Concepcion in L’heure Espagnole and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Frances, Countess of Essex in Britten’s Gloriana and at Oper Frankfurt as the Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos. She returned to her native Ireland to make her role debut as Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle for Irish National Opera.
Further appearances include Ino in Semele for Boston Lyric Opera, Ghosts of Versailles for Opera Theatre St Louis, Dido in Dido and Aeneas for Los Angeles Opera, Tebaldo in Don Carlo and Mercedes in Carmen for Covent Garden, Annio in La Clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre Capitole Toulouse, Medoro in Orlando Furioso for Opéra de Nice, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Ascanio in Terry Gilliam’s production of Benvenuto Cellini at English National Opera.
In concert, Paula enjoys a close relationship with MusicAeterna and Teodor Currentzis; performances include Cosi fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Purcell’s Indian Queen, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, Hindemith’s Die Junge Magd and Das Knaben Wunderhorn at the Mariinsky Theatre and on a tour of Europe. She made her debut at the BBC Proms in 2016 in Haydn’s Paukenmesse and recently jumped in for performances of works by Tommaso Traetta with La Nuova Musica and David Bates, and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Sir Mark Elder and the Britten Sinfonia. Further appearances include Messiah with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris; Elijah with the Spanish National Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra; Christmas Oratorio with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Handel’s Solomon, Alexander’s Feast and Honneger’s Judith for the Nederlandse Programma Stichting; and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In the United States she has worked with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where she premiered John Harbison’s Symphony No. 6, the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven Symphony No. 9), the Handel and Haydn Society (Juno/Ino in Handel’s Semele) and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
An accomplished recitalist, Paula has given performances at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Shannon International Music Festival, the Chancellor’s Concert at the University of Limerick, in Frankfurt, and at the Diaghilev Festival in Perm. She recently made her debut at Wigmore Hall with the pianist Malcolm Martineau.
