"Stage director Francesca Zambello conjures a gorgeous world where hieroglyphics by the L.A.-based artist RETNA create a striking backdrop to the timeless story."
"The department director who hired me for Yale was a woman, as was Francesca Zambello, the artistic director of the Washington opera who, in 2015, offered me my debut with Rossini's Cenerentola."
After her passing, a leading opera director, Francesca Zambello, said "She was our greatest advocate and our greatest spokesperson. She carried this art form."
"San Francisco Opera would never rank operas from best to worst—but today, we’re going rogue! "
March 15, 2022 by Rachael F. Goldberg, Broadway World "But between Mozart and Librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte's surprisingly balanced story (the men are just as easily manipulated as the women,…
January 16, 2022 by Steven Brown, Texas Classical Review "Zambello’s staging brought out not only the natures of the individual characters—from Madam de Croissy’s dignity and Madame Lidoine’s warmth to…
November 15, 2021 by Aaron Hunt, Newcity Stage “Director Francesca Zambello’s original production, with some new polish added by the original design crew for this very short Chicago run of…
Glimmerglass Festival Unveils Its Leader’s Final Season
August 18, 2021 by Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal “Francesca Zambello, the general and artistic director of the Glimmerglass Festival, knows how to improvise. With Covid-19 restrictions on live…
August 17, 2021 by Cameron Kelsall, Bachtrack “The production, co-directed by Francesca Zambello and Eric Sean Fogel, makes strong use of the wood-paneled unit set that is the baseline for…
Under the adventurous leadership of Francesca Zambello, the Glimmerglass Festival built a temporary stage on the grassy grounds of the campus.
July 30, 2021 by Geraldine Freedman, The Daily Gazette “The show was fast paced, directed by Francesca Zambello and Eric Sean Fogel, and reset in New Orleans in the 1920s…All…
July 17, 2021 by Joseph Dalton: Albany Times Union “Fleets of young guides helped patrons get situated and Francesca Zambello, the redoubtable general and artistic director, seemed to be everywhere.…
Known for her ability to balance the sweeping view with telling psychological and emotional details, Zambello is finally about to reveal the full scope of an American-setting "Ring" that's been in the works for a decade.
Review: La Traviata at Atlanta Opera April 30, 2019 by Andrew Alexander, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution As a director, Zambello primarily seeks to draw out the emotional heart and human drama…
read moreReview: Francesca Zambello’s Spirited Mounting of Bernstein’s “West Side Story” – Houston Grand Opera, April 28, 2018 May 1, 2018 by William Burnett, Opera Warhorse Zambello has eschewed a European…
read more"Zambello has eschewed a European trend of radical revisions in staging the work that has been the feature of recent German and Austrian productions. Her dramatic realization, building on the…
With guest artists ranging from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to key music figures Stephen Sondheim,…
read moreEnergetic Glimmerglass Candide (James Sohre, Opera Today) "Director Francesca Zambello has wisely chosen to stage it as a Broadway show, and she has invested the proceedings with all her trademark…
read moreReview: At Dallas Opera, Salome's Twisted Love Story Is a Bucket List Production (Lauren Smart, Dallas Observer Blogs) "The Dallas Opera production [of Salome] is a dazzler." Opera Review: Salome…
read more
