Francesca Zambello
Francesca Zambello (born August 24, 1956) is an American opera and theatre director. She serves as director of Glimmerglass Festival and the Washington National Opera. Early life and education. Born in New York City, Zambello lived in Europe when she was a child, learning to speak French, Italian, German and Russian. Zambello is of Italian descent, the daughter of actress Jean (née Sincere) and Charles C. Zambello, a former actor who became head of flight entertainment at TWA. She attended Moscow University in 1976 and graduated from Colgate University in 1978. Career. An internationally recognized director of opera  and theater, Francesca Zambello's American debut took place at the Houston Grand Opera with a production of "Fidelio" in 1984. She began her career as an assistant director to Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. From 1984 until 1991 she was the artistic director of the Skylight Music Theater with Stephen Wadsworth. She debuted in Europe at Teatro La Fenice in Venice with "Beatrice di Tenda" in 1987 and has since staged new productions at major theaters, festivals and opera houses around the world. Also, she served as artistic advisor to the San Francisco Opera from 2006 until 2011. Currently, she is  the artistic and general director of the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, and the artistic director of Washington National Opera. Zambello has been awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for her contribution to French culture and the Russian Federation's Medal for Service to Culture. She received the San Francisco Opera's Medallion of Honor for her work there over three decades. Other honors for her work include three Olivier Awards from the London Society of Theaters and two Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical and Best Opera. She has also received the award for  Best Company Achievement. The French was awarded to her twice for her work at the Paris Opera. Other awards include Best Production in Japan, the Palme d'Or in Germany, the Golden Mask in Russia and the Helpmann Award in Australia. Zambello developed and directed the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis' "Heart of a Soldier" for the San Francisco Opera, where she served as artistic advisor from 2006 to 2011. Other opera projects have included the first international production of "Carmen" to ever be presented at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the world premiere of Tobias Picker 's "An American Tragedy", "Cyrano" and "Les Troyens" for the Metropolitan Opera, "Carmen" and "Don Giovanni" at the Royal Opera House, "Boris Godunov", "War and Peace", "Billy Budd" and "William Tell" at the Paris Opera, and "Der Ring des Nibelungen" for the San Francisco Opera and the Washington National Opera. Theater projects have included "Show Boat" in London at the Royal Albert Hall as well as for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera; a new musical, "Rebecca", for Vienna's Raimund Theater, Stuttgart's (presented by Stage Entertainment), and in St. Gallen, Switzerland; "Tibet Through the Red  Box", a new play by David Henry Hwang for the Seattle Children's Theatre; "The Little Prince" with Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman; "Napoleon" in the West End; "The Little Mermaid" for Disney on Broadway; the musical of "The Little House on the Prairie" and "The Master Butchers" at the Guthrie Theater, and "Aladdin" in Disneyland. For the 2011 Glimmerglass Festival, Zambello, Terrence McNally, and Deborah Voigt collaborated to produce the stage show "Voigt Lessons" which was revived in 2015 at the Art House in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Other works have included a film of Menotti's "Amahl and the Night  Visitors" for BBC Television, as well as a new film for the BBC, Sony and PBS of "The Little Prince", and "West Side Story" for the floating stage at the Bregenzer Festspiele. Works on DVD include "War and Peace", "Carmen", "The Little Prince", "Street Scene", "Show Boat" and "Porgy and Bess". Zambello has served as a guest professor at Yale University. Zambello lives in New York City with her wife, attorney Faith E. Gay, and her step-son, Jackson.