Petar Selem
Guest of the OperaBiography
Croatian Egyptologist, university professor, author, stage director, theatre critic, theatrologist and musicologist Petar Selem (1936–2015) studied Egyptology and Art and Civilization of the Middle Eastern Antiquity at the University of Strasbourg’s Faculty of Arts, to which he subsequently added studies of archaeology, history and art history at the University of Zagreb where he was later, from 1964, active as the head of the Department of Ancient History. His non-academic pursuits included stage direction of dramas and operas, notably of works dealing with antiquity-related subjects. There, he scored an early success with his directing debut, a production of Nabucco at Zagreb (1984). His other directions included Macbeth, Aida, I Lombardi, Il trovatore, Faust, Boris Godunov, Boito’s Nerone or La Gioconda, among others. From 1983–1988 he worked with Giorgio Strehler, as co-manager of the Théâtre de l´Europe in Paris. His stagings were seen by audiences in Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Luxembourg, Russia, Malta and other countries.