American to helm American opera company
As La Cieca indicated previously, Francesca Zambello (center) is going to add the notch of General and Artistic Director of Glimmerglass Opera to her already bulging belt. [NYT] La Zambello is perhaps best known for her exquisite visual taste.
I know that’s the villainess from The Little Mermaid, but I was hoping that might be Renee’s makeup for Armida. (Tell Mary Z that it’s not too late!)
It actually looks something like her hair and makeup for the Armida she did about 17 years ago when I was a 5 year old obsessed with The Little Mermaid.
Smart move by the folks at Glimmerglass and congratulations to Ciesca. Her memoirs should prove interesting reading one day.
I think this is a great move for Glimmerglass. Congratulations to the company and Ms. Zambello.
Is it safe to assume that the Blomberg reviews will now be as predictable as those of NYT?
This appointment will be an easy target for the American Association of Zambello Haters, Inc. New York Chapter. Too easy. The derogatory comments about her that are sure to follow will get bogged down rehashing old gripes while ignoring what she brings to the position. It will help to put Glimmerglass back on the map. She knows what she is doing and has influential (and wealthy) friends and trusted colleagues everywhere. Her appointment should be a boon to fundraising efforts there. (In the nick of time from what I understand.) Many, many singers, conductors, choreographers and designers (a lot of them quite starry) love working with her. So do many opera house administrations. She believes in what she is doing and is damn good at getting her passionate ideas for the continued survival of opera in this country across to anyone. Young singers practically fall all over themselves trying to be in her productions because she has such a great reputation amongst them. And she is AMERICAN! (How did THAT happen?) Woo hoo!
Maybe Covent Garden can now divest itself of FZ’s productions of Carmen, Queen of Spades and Cherevichki by selling them lock, stock and barrel to Glimmerglass.
There’s a UK chapter, too.
And we’ll be deeply deeply happy if she’s now too busy to fill up the ROH storage lot with the rubbish from her shows (they are rarely revived or loaned out, just stored till they rot).
Maybe she should be asked to bulldoze them. I have a feeling she would be rather good at that.
Her “Giovanni” production has played multiple times at the ROH since it premiered in 2002. Other productions of Ms. Zambello are seen nearly constantly all over the world. Her productions, for the most part, tell the stories of the operas in updated stagings that actually make at least a little sense—that’s far better than many of our contemporary stage directors.
The critics rave:
“Her productions, for the most part, tell the stories of the operas in updated stagings that actually make at least a little sense”
La Cieca agrees with you that every hour Ms. Zambello spends doing anything that is not directing opera is an hour well spent. Plus now that Kellogg’s gone, gone, gone we can be confident that what happens in Cooperstown will stay in Cooperstown, so there isn’t that horrible sense of “Oh Jesus, and I’m going to have to sit through this cheesy piece of crap all over again at the State Theater next season.”
Personally, La Cieca just looks forward to what will happen when there is a crisis at Glimmerglass during a week when a the Zambello gaze is already split between a previewing megamusicial in San Diego and a major cast defection in the Washington “Ring” cycle. (Which, given the FZ CV thus far, will probably all happen at the same time she’s mounting a Christmas pantomime based on Tschaikovsky.)
Oh then you expect a “Domingo” type management?
“Placido here, Placido there, lalalalalalalalalaaaH” with music by Rossini
Sorry, LC, but I’m having trouble imagining a “crisis” involving Glimmerglass that could possibly excite anyone’s appetite for scandal: a summer festival that does a mere seven weeks of performances of relatively small-scale works with fairly unfamous singers. “OMG, Francesca!! the Cherubino we plucked from last summer’s Santa Fe apprentice program is pregnant and we have to replace her!!” Hmmm.
You won’t have to worry about the Washington “Ring” Cycles since it’s on hiatus. And on that point, the Ring Cycle in D.C. (and SF) that she is directing is one of the more interesting productions of the Ring currently out there.
I’m looking forward to that SF Ring. I really liked her Reingold, even though it was my first and not very traditional. (It did qualify as “updated stagings that actually make at least a little sense,” though.)
Ooops, I meant Rheingold, of course.
Manuela, I didn’t realize you posted on Parterre!
Nice to see you here!
‘Young singers practically fall all over themselves trying to be in her productions because she has such a great reputation amongst them.”
Your entire post is absolutely hilarious, but this comment in particular made me laugh out loud. Thanks for one of the funniest posts here in months!
I wonder about Renee’s hair in Armida. Something like Marge Simpson? A Medusa? An on-off a la Bette as Elizabeth or Edita as Lucrezia? We’ll see, but there is suspense.
Oh dear! After reading many interesting posts I just realized this has nothing to do with the Armida director. Sorry for that senior moment. I still wonder about Renee’s hair.
I bet she’ll bring a Disney show up there to lure some the Hall of Fame-ers.
From my observations, Mrs Rance, the opera and HOF audiences are really very different, although I have done the obligatory HOF visit, and was delighted to see they have a splendid copy of Jim Rice’s underwear ad poster.
I somehow doubt a Disney production would fit on the Glimmerglass stage but there’s no question that things there WILL change. There has been a lot of grumbling the last several years about the way things were going under the direction of the departed incumbent.
I’m not one of Ms Zambello’s detractors, at least as regards the recent work of hers I’ve seen. The infamous Lucia was indeed a mess of major proportions, but by the time of the MET Troyens, a fellow opera lover/classics professor commented to me, “At last someone who’s actually read Virgil and knows what this story is all about!”
Interesting observation about Troyens. The Met on its website at the time gave a lot of coverage of the rehearsals ( lots of pictures) which I didn’t realize at the time was unusual.
I thought the production was moving ( it helped to have Lorianne as Dido, of course)but I don’t recall reading about what the singers ( and chorus) felt about the production itself. Did they feel dwarfed by the sets, hampered by anything on stage, or was it a success from the stage side of things as well? I would appreciate reading comments from anyone who knows about this!
I admit that I rushed home to my Virgil to check which canto described the “Peter Pan on Ice” dream ballet during the Royal Hunt and Storm Music. Stunning that Zambello should unearth so previously overlooked a detail.
That Troyens production was “moving” for sure. There were people jumping and dancing around throughout the entire performanc, whether it had anything to do with the plot or not. One way to try to keep the audience from falling asleep I guess.
The thing that bothers me most about this, is I work in the Broadway community- Cesca, in speaking to every producer in town would talk (two years ago mind you) that she was ‘kind of done with opera’ and that musicals were her new thing. As someone who loves opera, that attitude really bothered me (since she has opera to thank for her career). Now that she can’t get arrested on Bway (no producer will work with her after her multiple failures (Mermaid, Little House, First Wives Club, the ‘rebecca’ that never happened’) she is ‘returning’ to the artform that she was so finished with.
Ballet in opera is certainly problematic! Perhaps it would have been better to lower the curtain and play the Royal Hunt and Storm as a concert work. The new production of Carmen seems to be going in the other direction, however.
When Levine did Troyens in Boston after the Met performances there was no jumping and dancing. And there didn’t seem to be more “sleepers” than usual.