Queen Mary University of London
Mile End Rd, London E1 4NS
UK
Theatre and opera director Peter Sellars is celebrated for his contemporary productions of classic theatre and opera. A regular presence in UK opera houses since 1987, when he presented the premiere of Nigel Osborne’s The Electrification of the Soviet Union, American director Peter Sellars’ opera productions have been distinguished by intensely fresh performances, exquisite choral work and a revisionist questioning of the assumptions that have built up around the performance and production language of music theatre.
In theatre and opera, he is known for bringing apparently ‘distant’ texts into strong dialogue with the present, for example in his 1993 production of The Persians by Aeschylus at the Edinburgh Festival, which set the play in the context of the 1990-91 Gulf War.
Peter Sellars is a tireless ambassador for the arts as a relevant social and regenerative force, promoting interdisciplinarity and interculturalism as foundational structures for artists able to think beyond imperialist givens towards new modes of cultural discourse and production. Professor of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA, he is currently Director-in-Residence at English National Opera where his production of Purcell’s final opera, An Indian Queen, opens on 26 February 2015.