Opera Boffo

Those of us committed to keeping opera alive as an art form for today have an evangelistic attitude about it," professes director Francesca Zambello, a rising star who this month stages the American premiere of Hans-Jiirgen von Bose's The Sorrows of Young Werther at the Santa Fe Opera. "It's not that all pieces have to be updated, but we do have to add contemporary metaphors so that the performances have an immediate resonance with our audiences."

While thoroughly capable of staging conventional opera in a nondisruptive manner—she makes her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera this fall with Lucia di Lammermoor—Zambello is widely regarded as a deconstructionist. Committed both to the development of new works (she directed Judith Weir's The Vanishing Bridegroom in St. Louis this summer) and to the contemporizing of classics (including her cinematic treatment of Tosca in London last year), Zambello emphasizes the psychological and theatrical aspects of opera. By skinning music theater back to what she sees as its essential meaning, Zambello treats operatic characters realistically and challenges audiences to accept her performances' unexpected outcomes.

JOHN VILLANI