Francesca Zambello News

A cast change has been announced for the upcoming Washington National Opera production of Mozart’s “Così fan tutte.”

Legendary Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto will make his Washington National Opera debut as Don Alfonso in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Furlanetto has sung at every major opera house and festival in the world, and has been praised by critics for his vast range, thundering vocal power, and renowned acting.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts has announced the return of Title Wave @ Bay Street: The New Works Series for its 7th year, with performances of four new plays live and in-person at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is now offering single tickets to the 2021–22 season at HGO.org. After an all-virtual 2020–21 season through HGO Digital, the company will launch its triumphant return to live performance at The Wortham Theater Center on October 22, 2021.

The long wait is almost over! Live, in-person grand opera is just weeks away. Single tickets go on sale tomorrow, August 3, at 10:00 a.m., for Lyric Opera of Chicago's exciting new season, opening on Friday, September 17, with a brand-new production of Verdi's Macbeth.

OPERA America has announced the three pairs of protégés and  mentors selected for the organization's Mentorship Program for Women Administrators, now in its fourth year.

Washington National Opera will return to Nationals Park with Opera in the Outfield on Saturday, August 28. Hosted by General Director Timothy O’Leary and WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, this community event features an outdoor broadcast of Rossini’s charming romantic comedy Cinderella.

Lyric Opera of Chicago will hold virtual auditions for solo dancers with significant stage experience for its upcoming production of Florencia en el Amazonas by Daniel Catán. The production will be staged by critically acclaimed director Francesca Zambello with choreography by Eric Sean Fogel. August Tye is the ballet mistress.

San Francisco Opera's weekly, free opera streams continue in July with Janáček's intense family drama Jenůfa (July 10–11), Berlioz's massive epic Les Troyens (The Trojans) (July 17–18), Strauss' emotional thriller Elektra (July 24–25) and Verdi's Tyrolean tragedy Luisa Miller (July 31–August 1).

Virtual attendees also have access to exclusive interviews, featuring David M. Rubenstein and the Honorable Selwa “Lucky” Roosevelt, and WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello in conservation with Martina Arroyo and Marilyn Horne.

After the successful reimagining of its 2020/21 Season, Lyric Opera of Chicago greatly looks forward to welcoming audiences once again to the Lyric Opera House this fall for the start of the company’s 67th Season. 

Washington National Opera today announced its 2021–2022 season featuring a triumphant return to the Opera House stage, four world premiere commissions celebrating the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary, debuts from acclaimed and rising opera stars, the return to the pit for Principal Conductor Evan Rogister and the WNO Orchestra & Chorus, and more.

Houston Grand Opera will present its 2021-22 season live and in person after a year of reimagining the artform in a virtual format through the 2020-21 HGO Digital season.

Placido Domingo will be starring in La Traviata at the Bolshoi Theatre. The cast will feature Irina Lungu, Arturo Chacon Cruz, Zuzana Markova, Dinara Alieva, Elchin Azizov, Matteo Lippi, Liparit Avetisyan, and Vasily Ladyuk. Performances are set to run May 5 to May 9.

Set sail on an audio-fueled journey into our 2014 production of 'Billy Budd.' Brace yourself for stormy seas and emotional swells as you endeavor through the story of the H.M.S. Indomitable and its crew. 

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced plans for its 50th Anniversary season, slated to begin in September 2021 with a grand reopening of its stages and campus and culminate in September 2022 with a fresh interpretation of the seminal work that opened the Center in 1971, Leonard Bernstein’s MASS.

On March 27, 2021, San Francisco Opera presented an online stream of its 2017-2018 production of Götterdämerung, the fourth opera of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. Stage Director Francesca Zambello has shown us a rapidly deteriorating world in Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, and Siegfried, so the opening projections of clouds and smoke stacks are no surprise.

Watch the digital debut of Missy Mazzoli’s impassioned opera Breaking the Waves. The opera is based on Lars von Trier’s film of the same name. The story begins when a near-fatal accident leaves the heroine’s new husband paralyzed. In his anguish, he implores her to take other lovers. She follows her faith to a tragic end.

On March 20, 2021, San Francisco Opera presented a free stream of Richard Wagner’s opera Siegfried as part of Francesca Zambello’s 2017-2018 American Ring. Forest projections set the mood for Runnicles and Zambello’s nature-friendly, quasi-impressionistic rendering of the opera. Lighting Designer Mark McCullough illuminated the opening scene as though it was  a dream.

Wagner’s Siegfried is online from San Francisco Opera on March 20 and 21, 2021. Siegfried, a warrior without fear comes of age and prepares for battle in the third opera of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Tenor Daniel Brenna stars as the Siegfried, the son of Siegmund and Sieglinde who was born to retrieve the almighty ring of power from the dragon.