Peter Sellars

A key figure in the contemporary theatre and festival movement in the USA and around the world. He is known for his bold interpretations of the classics – whether they are works by Mozart, Handel, Shakespeare, Sophocles, or the sixteenth-century Chinese dramatist Tang Xianzu – viewing them through the lens of topical socio-economic issues.

He has staged productions for the Manchester, Glyndebourne, and Salzburg Festivals, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Netherlands Opera (Amsterdam), the Opéra de Paris, the San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, and others, presenting twentieth-century operas and works by contemporary composers such as Olivier Messiaen, Paul Hindemith, and György Ligeti. Productions to music by living composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Osvaldo Golijov, and Tan Dun staged by Sellars have significantly enriched the contemporary operatic repertoire. The director has played an important role in the creation of many John Adams compositions, particularly the operas Nixon in China and Doctor Atomic. The première of their latest collaboration, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, took place in the USA and Europe in early 2013. In 2006, Sellars was the Artistic Director of New Crowned Hope, a month-long festival in Vienna held as part of the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth.

His latest works include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Salzburg and Berlin), Nixon in China at the Metropolitan Opera (New York), George Crumb’s The Winds of Destiny (Ojai Music Festival and Cal Performances (California), and new interpretations of Handel’s Hercules in Chicago and Vivaldi’s Griselda in Santa Fe and the operatic diptych Iolanta/Persephone at the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Peter Sellars is Professor of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA (Los Angeles), a member of the management board of the Telluride Film Festival (USA), and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.