Rainer Sellmaier studied history of art and musicology in Munich, and set and costume design at the Salzburg Mozarteum. He has collaborated regularly with Tobias Kratzer since 2006, on productions including Gounod’s Faust (Opéra Bastille), Moïse et Pharaon (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence), La forza del destino (Frankfurt Opera), Tannhäuser (Bayreuth Festival), Lucio Silla (La Monnaie, Brussels), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Dutch National Opera), L’Africaine and La forza del destino (Frankfurt Opera), Götterdämmerung, Die Meistersinger von Nürnburg and Le Prophète (Karlsruhe), Der Zwerg (Deutsche Opera Berlin), Zoroastre (Komische Opera Berlin), L’Italiana in Algeri (Weimar), Guillaume Tell (Opéra de Lyon) and Les Huguenots (Nuremberg and Nice). He has received many nominations as set and costume designer of the year from Opernwelt.