Artistic Intimacy

However, because I have already experienced how gifted Sellars is a director, I was willing to look deeper, and became increasingly aware that beneath the jovial yet meticulous exterior are a heart, a psyche and an imagination that are truly extraordinary. He has realized that by making the singer focus on something else just at the moments that are most technically demanding, she is thereby distracted in such a way that she completely opens up and her singing becomes transcendent.

As he says, "I usually try and build around something the artist doesn't think they can do, and that's where you center the entire performance, because then every night, when the artist does do it, it's miraculous and beautiful".

This can only happen because the two obviously have such an intimate relationship, built on years of working together. I have the feeling that Peter knows, trusts and loves Dawn more than she does herself. He can see the magnificence of which she is capable, and dares to push her until she has the breakthrough and finds it. This is truly great work.