NEW YORK -- Francesca Zambello's Metropolitan Opera debut in 1992 turned into a debacle, her production of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" booed by an audience shocked by bizarre abstract sets and open coffins.
That bust became the boon that propelled her to the top of the opera world.
"They launched my career in Europe," she said. "Having a scandal at the Met was merely the beginning of my European career because it made people sit up and take notice."
She's become one of the most sought-after directors, with productions at the top theaters in the United States and Europe. On Friday, her staging of Shostakovich's rarely seen "The Nose" opened at Bard's SummerScape festival in Annandale-on-Hudson, in the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center. She's also directing Shostakovich's "Cheryomushki (Cherry Tree Towers)," a musical that debuts at Bard on Aug. 12.
"We think of Shostakovich as this dark and depressing, angst-ridden composer, and of course some of his music is," she said during a recent interview. "But the two pieces that we're doing at Bard are both satirical, witty, comic -- of course they have a dark side -- but basically the music has a kind of humor to it and lightness."
While Wagner is her favorite composer, she has devoted much of her time to Russian works. Her 2000 production of Prokofiev's "War and Peace" for the Paris Opera was just released on DVD, and last year she directed Shostakovich's more familiar "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" at Opera Australia.
She has no Russian background, but attended the University of Moscow for a year. The daughter of actress Jean Sincere and Charles Zambello, an actor who became a businessman, she was born in New York, then lived in Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt and London before going to college at Colgate.
"I wanted to direct ever since I was a child. I was putting on shows in the living room," said Zambello, 47. "I knew I was a storyteller. I knew, subconsciously I suppose, and I pursued it."
In the opera world, with constant constraints on money and rehearsal time, shows frequently open before they're ready to. Directors have to recognize that union rules impose limits on what can be done. That often is frustrating.
"The cost of unions are killing the rehearsal process, are killing much of the artistic process, and so you start thinking, 'Well, do these people actually want to work?' Having said that, of course, the flip side is I don't think that a union is a bad thing," she said. "Of course, I'm part of a union, as well; people forget that.
NEW YORK -- Francesca Zambello's Metropolitan Opera debut in 1992 turned into a debacle, her production of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" booed by an audience shocked by bizarre abstract sets and open coffins.
That bust became the boon that propelled her to the top of the opera world.
"They launched my career in Europe," she said. "Having a scandal at the Met was merely the beginning of my European career because it made people sit up and take notice."
She's become one of the most sought-after directors, with productions at the top theaters in the United States and Europe. On Friday, her staging of Shostakovich's rarely seen "The Nose" opened at Bard's SummerScape festival in Annandale-on-Hudson, in the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center. She's also directing Shostakovich's "Cheryomushki (Cherry Tree Towers)," a musical that debuts at Bard on Aug. 12.
"We think of Shostakovich as this dark and depressing, angst-ridden composer, and of course some of his music is," she said during a recent interview. "But the two pieces that we're doing at Bard are both satirical, witty, comic -- of course they have a dark side -- but basically the music has a kind of humor to it and lightness."
While Wagner is her favorite composer, she has devoted much of her time to Russian works. Her 2000 production of Prokofiev's "War and Peace" for the Paris Opera was just released on DVD, and last year she directed Shostakovich's more familiar "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" at Opera Australia.
She has no Russian background, but attended the University of Moscow for a year. The daughter of actress Jean Sincere and Charles Zambello, an actor who became a businessman, she was born in New York, then lived in Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt and London before going to college at Colgate.
"I wanted to direct ever since I was a child. I was putting on shows in the living room," said Zambello, 47. "I knew I was a storyteller. I knew, subconsciously I suppose, and I pursued it."
In the opera world, with constant constraints on money and rehearsal time, shows frequently open before they're ready to. Directors have to recognize that union rules impose limits on what can be done. That often is frustrating.
"The cost of unions are killing the rehearsal process, are killing much of the artistic process, and so you start thinking, 'Well, do these people actually want to work?' Having said that, of course, the flip side is I don't think that a union is a bad thing," she said. "Of course, I'm part of a union, as well; people forget that.
"Nobody makes you work in a theater. Nobody forces you to be in the orchestra, nobody forces you to be in the chorus, nobody forces you to be a stagehand. You made that choice. If you want to have life in a certain way, go work in a bank, go work in a factory."
Zambello thinks there must be changes in the U.S. music world to meet audience needs. Sunday shows should be mandatory. There should be more performances that cater to young audiences, who might not have the patience for three- or four-hour works.
"I think there's nothing wrong with doing an hourlong version of 'Don Giovanni' or 'The Magic Flute,"' she said. "They don't want to sit through it. Half the time, adults don't want to sit through it."
While she understands and admires European directors who are criticized by some for reworking operas, changing their time periods and settings, she also realizes that's not to everyone's taste. In that way, perhaps the experience of "Lucia" at the Met changed her.
"Every audience has a personality," she said. "I guess I try to focus on the audience. I think there's nothing wrong in giving them some of what they want. It's not a bad thing. They're paying a lot of money, so I think it's our job in some way to dish out for them something that's in the taste of your public. It's not that crazy. That's what Broadway does."
Even after the "Lucia" debacle, the Met asked her back for last year's production of Berlioz's "Les Troyens," which was a hit. She's scheduled to direct two more new productions there, the Met premiere of Alfano's "Cyrano de Bergerac" in May and the world premiere of Tobias Picker's "An American Tragedy" the following season.
"If you don't have a drive inside of you that will not let you sleep unless you try it, then don't bother," she said. "And you have to be willing to accept the fact that most people say no nine times out of 10 to you. You can stand up and keep going. You have to be prepared to be knocked down a lot."
