Renowned theatre, opera and film director Peter Sellars has directed more than 100 productions across America and abroad. A visionary force, Sellars is known for innovative re-interpretations of classic works.

A graduate of Harvard College, Peter Sellars studied in Japan, China and India before becoming artistic director of the Boston Shakespeare Company. At age 26, he was selected to lead the American National Theatre at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. Since then he has worked at theatre and opera companies all over the world, and has guided numerous arts festivals including: the 1990 and 1993 Los Angeles Festivals; the 2002 Adelaide Festival in Australia; and the 2003 Venice Biennale International Festival of Theatre in Italy. He is a professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA, a visiting lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and a “Resident Curator” of the Telluride Film Festival. Among his numerous honours are the MacArthur Prize and the Erasmus Prize.

As well as establishing a reputation for bringing 20th-century operas to the stage, including works by Olivier Messaien, Paul Hindemith, György Ligeti andja Saariaho, Sellars has been the driving force in the creation of many new works, with long-time collaborator John Adams, such as Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, and most recently Doctor Atomic.

Sellars is currently the artistic director of the New Crowned Hope Festival (www.newcrownedhope.org), part of the Vienna Mozart Year celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.