Marit Strindlund

INTRODUCTION

Marit Strindlund is one of the most renowned and inspiring opera conductors of her generation in Scandinavia.

Marit has been Music Director and Chief conductor at Folkoperan Opera House in Stockholm, a post she took up in 2013 and held until 2021, and has conducted many successful productions in the house such as Tristan and Isolde, Bluebeard’s Castle, La traviata, Turandot, Satyagraha, Ålevangeliet, Usher, Coraline, Threepenny opera, The Magic Flute, Carmen Moves, The Tales of Hoffmann, The Turn of the Screw, Dichterliebe, etc. She instigated and conducted several international co-commissions during this time.

Strindlund has also held the position of Artistic Director and Music Director at Spira Concert house and Theatre with Jönköping Sinfonietta during the years 2020-2023.

RECENT AND FUTURE ENGAGEMENTS

Marit Strindlund’s upcoming engagements in 2027 include Die Zau­ber­flöte and a world premiere production at Komische Oper Berlin, marking her operatic debut with the company, as well as her first appearance at Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland, where she will conduct a new production of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. She also returns to Detroit Opera for Philip Glass’ Satyagraha. Further debuts, including Theater Basel and additional houses, will be announced in due course.

In 2026, Strindlund made her American debut at Detroit Opera with The Handmaid’s Tale, as well as her debut at the Danish National Opera with Carmen. She also conducted Sancta at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, a company with which she enjoys a close artistic relationship, having previously led the critically acclaimed world premiere of Daan Janssens’ grand opera Brodeck in 2024, alongside several other productions.

Other engagements during the year 2026 include The Canterville Ghost with Jönköpings Sinfonietta, a Christmas concert with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, and The Nutcracker with the Arctic Philharmonic.

Following a successful 2024/25 season, which included debuts at Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Wiener Festwochen, and with the orchestra of Komische Oper Berlin, Strindlund returned to Staatsoper Stuttgart in spring 2025 to conduct the world premiere of Der Rote Wal, receiving both critical acclaim and an enthusiastic audience response. She rejoined the company in the 2025/26 season for two productions, including the widely discussed and provocative Sancta, collaborating with the acclaimed stage director and performance artist Florentina Holzinger.

BIOGRAPHY

With a strong interest in contemporary music, Marit Strindlund has conducted numerous world premieres. In 2019, Usher by Annelies Van Parys, which Strindlund conducted at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, was nominated for Best World Premiere at the International Opera Awards.

Previously, Marit has led numerous opera-productions in Belgium, the UK and Scandinavia, including a very successful Pelléas et Mélisande in a co-production for Bergen National Opera, Opera Dijon, Muziektheater Transparant Antwerpen, and Flemish National Opera, Usher for Flemish National Opera, Sir John in Love for Opera Holland Park London, a most noted Songs of wars I have seen for Rotterdam Operadagen, La Bohéme and Pearlfishers at Ringsakeroperaen Norway, La Rondine at the Peacock theatre Saddler’s Wells London, Turn of the screw and Hänsel und Gretel for Opera Garden Aberdeen, the Brothers Lionheart at Gothenburg Opera, Ålevangeliet at Norrlandsoperan, and La Bohème and Magic Flute at Wermland Opera.

During several seasons, Strindlund has worked as a cover conductor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for various ballet productions with the Royal Ballet.

In 2019, Strindlund conducted the world premiere of Fritjof’s Saga – a large-scale opera composed 125 years earlier but never previously performed – at the Gothenburg Opera. The performance was broadcast by the EBU. She has also done several recordings of concerts for the Swedish National Radio (SR P2), with, amongst others, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Swedish Radio Choir.

As a symphonic conductor, Strindlund has worked with orchestras such as the Philharmonisches Orchester der Hansestadt Lübeck, Stockholm Royal Philharmonic, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Wermland  Sinfonietta, the Nordic Chamber orchestra, the Swedish Chamber orchestra, amongst others.

She has worked with renowned chamber ensembles for contemporary music, such as the Spectra Ensemble Ghent, B’Rock Antwerp, I solisti del Vento Antwerp, KammarensembleN, and Gageego.

Strindlund initiated and conducted a Nordic concert series of contemporary music called Inversion, together with KammarensembleN, of which the Swedish National Television (SVT) made a documentary and concert broadcasts. She has also appeared in the documentary film “Call me Madame Maestro” by film director Christina Olofsson, documenting the working lives of international female conductors from Europe and the US, shown at various international film festivals and movie theatres.

During 2015-2019, Strindlund was appointed as a member of the artistic board of the National Swedish Performing Arts Agency by the Swedish Minister for Culture.

Marit did her orchestral conducting studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Jorma Panula as professor, and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, specializing in opera, with Mark Elder and Mark Shanahan as teachers.