Le Grand Macabre is the third and only major stage-work by Hungarian composer György Ligeti, following his Absurdist sung "mimodramas" Aventures and Nouvelles aventures (1965).

Peter Sellars is an American theatre director, noted for his unique stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he teaches Art as Social Action and Art as Moral Action. He has been described as a key figure of theatre and opera for the last 50 years.