Mårten Forslund is a Stockholm-based stage director specialising in opera and musical theatre. After graduating from the University College of Opera in Stockholm in 2008 with a production of Mozart’s Idomeneo he made his debut at the International Vadstena Academy with three new short works under the title Here Be Opera. The following year he directed a production of Puccini’s La bohème at the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Hanoi in cooperation with the Norrlandsoperan, and shortly thereafter he made his debut at the Royal Swedish Opera with the new opera Triumf och tragedi by composer Paula af Malmborg Ward and librettist Daniel Boyacioglu.
Mårten Forslund has a special interest in new and contemporary opera and has directed numerous new commissions and Scandinavian premieres in theatres such as the Royal Swedish Opera, Vattnäs Konsertlada, the University College of Opera in Stockholm, Sweden’s National Touring Theatre and Smålands Musik och Teater. Recent critically acclaimed productions include Silverfågeln by Mats Larsson Gothe and Greta Sundberg about the life of Jussi Björling for Vattnäs Konsertlada and the sci-fi opera Kärleksmaskinen by Johan Ullén and Sigrid Herrault for Piteå Kammaropera. For the Royal Swedish Opera he directed in 2016 the triple bill Short Stories, which included new pieces by Roger Assar Johansson, Tebogo Monnakgotla and Johan Ullén and in 2020 the Scandinavian premiere of Rufus Wainwright’s opera Prima Donna. In the same theatre he went on to direct another edition of Short Stories in the spring of 2022 with works by Maria Lithell Flyg and Torbjörn Helander, in early 2023 the Jubileumsgalan that celebrated the Royal Swedish Opera's 250th anniversary, and later in the same year a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni based on a concept by artistic director Michael Cavanagh. In 2023 he also directed the Scandinavian premiere of Pauline Viardot's opera The Last Sorcerer with the independent opera company Den Andra Operan.