Biography

Peter Sellars has gained international recognition for his groundbreaking and transformative interpretations of classics, advocacy of 20th-century and contemporary music, and collaborative projects with an extraordinary range of creative and performing artists. He has staged operas at the Dutch National Opera, English National Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg Festival, Opéra National de Paris, and San Francisco Opera, among others. Mr. Sellars collaborated on the creation of many works with composers John Adams and Kaija Saariaho, and has staged works by Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti, Paul Hindemith, Osvaldo Golijov, and Tan Dun. Recent productions include a staging of Heinrich Schutz’s Musikalische Exequien for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Paris Opera, Tyshawn Sorey’s Perle Noire: Meditations for Josephine at the Dutch National Opera, a concert staging of Adriana Mater as part of his multi-year collaboration with Esa-Pekka Salonen at the San Francisco Symphony, and a production of Charpentier’s Médée at Berlin State Opera with Simon Rattle. Earlier in 2024, Mr. Sellars created a new production of Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda for the Paris Opera.

Mr. Sellars is a distinguished professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA, a curator of the Telluride Film Festival, and was a mentor for the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Erasmus Prize for contributions to European culture, Gish Prize, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been awarded the Polar Music Prize and been named Artist of the Year by Musical America. In 2021 he was honored with the EBU-IMZ Lifetime Achievement Award for his body of opera video recordings.