Zambello, Francesca (1956– )

US stage director. She studied with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and was artistic co-director of the Skylight Music Theater at Milwaukee (1985–90). She also worked at the San Francisco Opera (1983–84) and at Wexford (from 1988). She has staged The Devil and Kate, Der Templer und die Jüdin (Maschner), Donizetti's L'assedio di Corinto, and Tchaikovsky's Cherevichki. She has also worked with Seattle Opera (War and Peace, 1990) and Los Angeles (Les Troyens, 1991). She was the first US director at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow (with Turandot, 1991), staged Khovanshchina for the English National Opera ensemble, in 1994, and directed the premiere of Goehr's Arianna at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1995. Her work is noted for its historical style and dramatic truth.