Directors, ballet masters, stage directors, choreographers, architects, ... Octave discovers the personalities that have marked the history of the Opera which continues to attract the great names of music and dance.
Francesca Zambello was born in New York and has worked at many of the great opera houses and theatres, receiving several distinctions, including the Grand Prix de la Critique—for Billy Budd at the Opéra Bastille in 1997 and then for War and Peace in 2000 (again at the Paris Opera). She has directed numerous works by contemporary composers, including the world premiere production of Philippe Fénelon’s Salammbô at the Opéra Bastille. She also directed Turandot (1997), Dialogues des carmélites (1999), Boris Godunov (2002), Guillaume Tell and Il Trovatore (2003) at the Paris Opera. Her spectacular productions are marked by her remarkable capacity to direct large choruses and by magnificent lighting. She served as artistic advisor to the San Francisco Opera and has been the director of the Glimmerglass Festival since September 2010. More recently, she became artistic advisor to the Washington National Opera.+