An internationally recognized director of opera and theater, Francesca Zambello is the Artistic Director of the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center and former General and Artistic Director of the Glimmerglass Festival (2011-22). During the 2024-25 season she returns to HGO to direct West Side Story, the same production she directed for the company in 2018, as well as a new co-production with WNO, Tannhaüser, after directing the company’s record-breaking The Sound of Music in spring 2024. Her U.S. directing debut took place at HGO with a production of Fidelio (1984), and she has since directed almost two dozen productions for the company, including Dialogues of the Carmelites (2022) and Florencia en el Amazonas (2019). Her work has been seen at the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, the Bolshoi, London’s Royal Ballet and Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Paris Opera, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and English National Opera. She has staged plays and musicals on Broadway, at the Royal National Theatre, BAM, the Guthrie Theater, Vienna’s Raimund Theater, the Bregenz Festival, Sydney Festival, Disneyland, Berlin’s Theater des Westens, and at the Kennedy Center. Zambello received the San Francisco Opera Medal for Artistic Excellence for her more than 30 years of artistic contributions to the company, including serving as Artistic Advisor from 2006-11. In 2020, she received the Knighthood of the Order of the Star of Italy for her contribution to the promotion of Italian culture and heritage. She has been awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for her contribution to French culture, and the Russian Federation’s medal for Service to Culture. Her theatrical honors include three Olivier Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, two French Grand Prix des Critiques, the Helpmann Award, the Green Room Award, the Palme d’Or in Germany, and the Golden Mask in Russia.