Sellars Accepts New Job at L.A. Philharmonic : Music: As creative consultant, he will devise special events, festivals and community projects.

In what he describes as “an open-ended agreement,” Peter Sellars has been named creative consultant to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He will help devise special events, festivals and community-oriented projects, according to an official announcement made Friday.

Sellars, director of the 1990 Los Angeles Festival and an internationally recognized stage director, describes his new job as “an experimental position. And right now, we are not quantifying it. But it seems that, with this, all my L.A. projects are now coming into alignment.”

Asked how he will juggle his numerous other commitments around the world, Sellars said that Los Angeles is now his place of residence: “I really live here. I have no other home.”

He said that he sees his affiliation with Boston Opera Theater as “just a friend of the family. They do some of my operas. I’m not officially connected.”

Ernest Fleischmann, executive vice president and managing director of the Philharmonic Assn., confirmed that Sellars’ consultant role is still being defined but that “we need the kind of fresh thinking that a man of Sellars’ vital imagination . . . can bring to us.”

He declined to give financial details of the appointment, but said that “Peter has promised to give us two days a month in person and to be available by telephone wherever he is in the world.”

Sellars, 33, has already been announced as stage director of the 1992 Salzburg Festival production of Olivier Messiaen’s opera, “St. Francois d’Assise,” for which the L.A. Philharmonic will be the resident orchestra. He is also collaborating again with composer John Adams on another opera, “The Death of Klinghoffer,” plus free-lancing on other projects internationally.

Sellars and Philharmonic music director designate Esa-Pekka Salonen told The Times on Friday that the new production of the Messiaen opera would probably travel to Los Angeles. Salonen said that would happen in late 1992 or early 1993.

Describing the genesis of the relationship between Sellars and the orchestra, Fleischmann said: “When I saw the chemistry between (Sellars and Salonen), I saw we had the makings of something special.

“And, frankly, I think it is important for all of us to keep Peter here as much as possible. Between these two men, Salonen and Sellars, we are keeping our sights on the next century. And, in a way, our bringing them together is a kind of insurance for the future of the orchestra.”

As for Sellars’ specific projects and priorities, all three principals were vague.

Said Fleischmann: “The four of us--including Ara Guzelimian, artistic administrator of the Philharmonic--haven’t even sat down together yet. But what Peter did for the L.A. Festival, we can all learn from. This was the first time people in L.A. were made aware of what it means to have here the incredible range of little-known cultures.”

Said Salonen: “This is one way to give the Philharmonic a higher profile in the ethnic communities. One idea we have already talked about is to create small residencies by ensembles from the orchestra in different parts of the city. We are always looking for new means of reaching more of our possible audience, the people who traditionally have not come to our concerts. We always must think of how to ensure a basic continuity, to fulfill this missionary zeal we feel toward our audience.”

Already the Philharmonic leadership is reflecting steps taken in that direction. Two members of the board of directors are minorities: James M. Rosser, president of Cal State L.A.; and Hansonia L. Caldwell, dean of humanities and fine arts and a music professor at Cal State Dominquez Hills. Rosser was added to the board in 1986; Caldwell in 1989.

Sellars has completed two projects with the Philharmonic. In March, he put together a chamber-music program played by Philharmonic members at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and in September he arranged and staged an L.A. Festival program at Hollywood Bowl in which the orchestra appeared.

Sellars, whose next Los Angeles Festival is scheduled for 1993, concluded: “This is a very exciting time. L.A. is ripe for this, the Philharmonic is game. And we are all on the edge of something special here.”