American theatre director Peter Sellars is regarded as one of the most important directors of contemporary theatre today, due to his unique reimagining of classical theatre in contemporary settings. He made his first steps in theatre direction as a student at Harvard, including a production of Anthony and Cleopatra in a swimming pool.
Sellars has always had an interest in opera, and began staging his own productions early on in his career. Like his theatre work, his opera productions often took pieces away from their original settings. His re-interpretations of Don Giovanni and Orlando earned him a divided reputation within the opera world, as some saw his work as a unique talent and a welcome breath of new life into archaic works, and others hated his attempts to disrupt the established conventions of these monolithic operas.
Sellars has also written librettos for opera, including a collaboration with composer John Adams to create Doctor Atomic, retelling the story of the Trinity test of the first atomic bomb.
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