Peter Sellars has become known for his reviews of repertoire works, engaging in the political and social events of our time. He has been artistic director of several festivals (Los Angeles, Adelaide, Venice Biennale, New Crowned Hope in Vienna). He has directed operas for the Glyndebourne Festival, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Nederlandse Opera of Amsterdam, the Opéra national de Paris, the Salzburg Festival, the San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Real of Madrid, including works by the contemporary repertoire (Olivier Messiaen, Paul Hindemith, György Ligeti, Kaija Saariaho, Osvaldo Golijov, Tan Dun) and especially the composer John Adams (Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, Doctor Atomic, A Flowering Tree, The Gospel According to the Other Mary). Recent productions include St. Matthew’s Passion with the Berliner Philharmoniker orchestra in Salzburg and Berlin, Handel’s Hercules in Chicago, Griselda by Vivaldi in Santa Fe, Desdemona, a collaboration with novelist Toni Morrison and the composer and singer Rokia Traoré, presented in Europe and in the United States, Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Stravinsky’s Persephone at the Teatro Real of Madrid, Michelangelo Sonnets, on compositions by Shostakovich and Bach, at the 2013 Manchester Festival, The Indian Queen, a mix of Purcell musics, texts, and dance at the Perm Opera and in Madrid, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence 2016, The Clemency of Titus at the Salzburg Festival 2017, Girls of the Golden West by John Adams (world premiere) at the San Francisco Opera. He teaches art and world cultures at the University of California at Los Angeles and is curator of the Telluride Film Festival. He has been a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, Erasmus Prize, Sundance Institute Risk-Takers Award, Gish Prize, Polar Music Prize, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2014, he was named “Artist of the Year” by Musical America.