Zambello developed and directed the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis' "Heart of a Soldier" for the San Francisco Opera, where she served as artistic advisor from 2006 to 2011. Other opera projects have included the first international production of "Carmen" to ever be presented at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the world premiere of Tobias Picker's "An American Tragedy", "Cyrano" and "Les Troyens" for the Metropolitan Opera, "Carmen" and "Don Giovanni" at the Royal Opera House, "Boris Godunov", "War and Peace", "Billy Budd" and "William Tell" at the Paris Opera, and "Der Ring des Nibelungen" for the San Francisco Opera and the Washington National Opera.