Photo credit: Nadja Sjöström

Swedish soprano Susanne Rydén has been named the new Executive and Artistic Director of the Stockholm Concert Hall Foundation as well as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

Stefan Forsberg who is retiring after 21 years in the role will step down at the end of the summer of 2024. Beginning in the spring Forsberg and Rydén will begin working together to ease the transitions into the 2024-25 season.

“I am thrilled that Susanne will be taking over after me when I retire from this wonderful position,” said Forsberg in an official press release. “Susanne is a brilliant person who is thoroughly rooted in both the Swedish music world and political arenas. With her extensive experience, she will be an excellent leader for the operation. As a loyal concertgoer, I will follow the continued development with admiration!”

Rydén is currently president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and CEO of Musik i Syd. In 2011, she was awarded the royal medal Litteris et Artibus, for outstanding artistic work. She has toured worldwide as an early music specialist, performing roles such as Angelica and Dorinda in Handel’s “Orlando,” Dido in Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas,” among others. Rydén help found the Stockholm Baroque Soloists, and has severed as a Baroque singing teacher at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Scandinavian Bach Academy.