Zamboni was born at
Peschiera del Garda. She studied at the
Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito in
Parma under Guilio Silva before making her professional opera debut in 1921 at
Piacenza as Marguerite in
Gounod's
Faust. Over the next few years she appeared at numerous major opera houses throughout Italy, including the
Teatro Regio di Torino,
Teatro di San Carlo,
Teatro Regio di Parma, and
Teatro Comunale di Bologna among others. Her roles included Violetta in
Verdi's
La traviata, Desdemona in Verdi's
Otello, Ännchen in
Der Freischütz, the title role in
Massenet's
Manon, and the title role in
Puccini's
Tosca among others. Zamboni became particularly associated with the
Teatro Costanzi in Rome and
La Scala in Milan. She sang regularly at the Teatro Costanzi from 1922–26 and 1929–30; most notably singing the role of Maria in the 1930 world premiere of
Pizzetti's
Lo straniero. In 1924 she joined the roster at
La Scala where she sang numerous roles until 1931. Her first role with the company was as Mimi in
Puccini's
La bohème. Most notably, she sang the role of Liu in the original 1926 production of Puccini's
Turandot under the direction of
Arturo Toscanini. Her other roles at La Scala included Euridice in
Gluck's
Orfeo ed Euridice, Elsa in
Wagner's
Lohengrin, Eva in Wagner's
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the title part in Puccini's
Manon Lescaut, and Donna Elvira in
Don Giovanni. Zamboni also had a successful career internationally. She toured South America frequently during the 1920s appearing in operas in
Rio de Janeiro,
Montevideo,
São Paulo and
Santiago. She became a particularly popular artist at the
Teatro Colón in
Buenos Aires where she sang annually from 1924–1926. In Europe she had a considerable amount of success in the Netherlands, singing in numerous Italian operas during the 1930s. In 1936 Zamboni retired from the stage shortly after appearing as both Liu in
Turandot and in the title role of
Mario Persico’s
Morenita at the
Teatro San Carlo. Her last performance was on radio in a 1936 national Italian broadcast of Wagner's
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as Eva. Following the end of her singing career, Zamboni worked as a singing teacher in Milan for more than twenty years before retiring to Verona where she died in 1976. ==Recordings==