She speaks five languages, has directed everything from Wagner’s Ring to Disney’s Little Mermaid, and is one of the opera world’s hottest names. So what’s she doing in tiny Cooperstown, in upstate New York?
Nothing short of rebranding an institution. As the new director of Glimmerglass, Francesca Zambello has pumped up the 36-year-old summer opera series, partnering with the art museum, the Baseball Hall of Fame, and even a boutique brewery, to create a full-fledged festival. With discounted tickets for opera newbies and docking facilities for kayaks, Zambello means to make it an all-access event.
The Globe caught up with Zambello in an early morning phone conversation before rehearsals.
We’ll get back to this summer and how you’re shaking things up, but I’ll start with a question about next year. You’ve programmed a production for summer 2012 by Toronto’s Opera Atelier, Lully’s Armide. How did that come about?
In terms of early music, Glimmerglass has traditionally done a Handel opera. I wanted to leap into the unknown with a French baroque opera, but we needed to do it right by including a dance component. I had heard about Opera Atelier, and seen their work online, so I started discussions with the company.
When you say an Opera Atelier production, what does that entail?
Armide will feature the largest contingent of Canadians who have ever worked at Glimmerglass at one time. Opera Atelier is putting on the opera in Toronto in April 2012, and then it will come virtually intact to Cooperstown. That includes conductor David Fallis, the singers, and all the dancers. We will broaden the horizons of the Glimmerglass audience by collaborating with unique companies who have stylistic expertise.
Back to this season, there are several new directions.
We have to anchor the season around a warhorse, which is Carmen, but to make it more interesting, we’re doing the spoken dialogue version, and the director, Anne Bogart, has a reputation for experimentation. Glimmerglass has never done an early Italian opera, so I programmed Medea, starring the wonderful young Canadian soprano Alexandra Deshorties.
I also want to mount a classic musical every year, featuring big voices, a full orchestra, and no amplification. We’re doing Annie Get Your Gun, so the theme of the season is three strong women – Carmen, Medea and Annie Oakley. Finally, I wanted to commission a new work in my first year. Composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist Tony Kushner are doing A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck, based on an incident in the life of playwright Eugene O’Neill. It will form a double bill with Later the Same Evening by composer John Musto and librettist Mark Campbell, inspired by five Edward Hopper paintings.
I have to say that I was stunned to hear that the great dramatic soprano and Wagnerian, Deborah Voigt, is playing Annie.
Debbie is a friend. She had done musicals in high school and college, and now she wants to get back to them – to push her vocal boundaries.
The first thing you did when you took over was change the name from Glimmerglass Opera to the Glimmerglass Festival. What does this mean in terms of your mandate?
The word “festival” has a cachet. You create a festival atmosphere by offering such things as lectures, symposiums, cabarets, concerts, films, meet-the-artist Q&As, and backstage tours. We did have these events for donors, but now they’re open to the general public.
You clearly see your role as something larger than a traditional artistic director.
That’s right. We have to make upstate New York a destination, and get word out about what’s here, especially in Cooperstown. One way is linking up with local institutions. For example, the Fenimore Art Museum is mounting an Edward Hopper exhibit, and we’re working with the Baseball Hall of Fame to have mutual discounts. A local brewery [Ommegang] is creating a special beer for us.
You’ve done a lot of work on the site itself.
The grounds surrounding the opera house should be treated as a public park. We’ve cleared the brush so you can now access Lake Otsego. There are walking trails and picnic tables and a dock there. We’re marketing with local hotels to get people to bike or kayak to the theatre. In fact, I’m happy to welcome anyone who arrives in a bathing suit if they swam here to see an opera.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
The Glimmerglass Festival continues in Cooperstown N.Y., until Aug. 23.
