Peter Sellars has become known for his reinterpretations of classical works, his advocacy for contemporary music, and his collaborative projects with a wide range of artists, creators, and performers.

He has overseen the creation of works by John Adams, including Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, Doctor Atomic, and The Girls of the Golden West. He participated in the premieres of L’Amour de loin, Adriana Mater, and Only the Sound Remains by Kaija Saariaho, and staged works by Messiaen, Ligeti, Hindemith, Golijov, and Tan Dun.  Among his recent productions are Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) by Tyshawn Sorey at New York's Park Avenue Armory, Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Perle Noire: Meditations for Josephine by Tyshawn Sorey at Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Adriana Mater (concert version) with the San Francisco Symphony, and Charpentier’s Médée at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. In 2024, he will direct Erwartung by Schönberg for the San Francisco Symphony and The Gambler by Prokofiev at the Salzburg Festival.Peter Sellars has notably directed the Los Angeles Festival in 1990 and 1993, and in 2006, he organized New Crowned Hope in Vienna to mark the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. He was the Music Director of the 2016 Ojai Music Festival. Peter Sellars is an emeritus professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA and a curator for the Telluride Film Festival.He has been honored with a MacArthur Fellowship, the Erasmus Prize for his contributions to European culture, the Gish Prize, and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has also received the Polar Music Prize and was named Artist of the Year by Musical America. In 2021, he was awarded the EBU-IMZ Lifetime Achievement Award for his body of work in video recordings of operas.At the Paris Opera: Saint François d’Assise (1992), Tristan und Isolde (2005), Adriana Mater (2006), Only the Sound Remains (2016), and Beatrice di Tenda (2024).

Peter SellarsDirector