Jonas Forssell

Swedish composer, clarinetist and saxophonist, born December 7, 1957 in Stockholm. Forssell, who was a student in Adolf Fredrik's Music Classes, studied composition and instrumentation at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm 1979–1982 for Hans Eklund and Arne Mellnäs, as well as jazz and arrangement for Bengt-Arne Wallin. He has written music for productions at the Riksteatern and the city theaters in Gothenburg and Uppsala. In the years 1996–1998, Jonas Forssell was artistic director of the Norrland Opera and since 1999 he has been a full-time composer. From 2006–2010, he has been a composer-in-residence at Malmö Opera, for which he composed the operas Träskoprinsessan, Death and the Maiden and Secrets. Both the Garden and Secrets are based on the novel and libretto by Magnus Florin. The Garden, about Carl von Linné, is a commissioned work, which was premiered at Drottningholm's Castle Theater in 1999, something that has not happened since the 18th century. Jonas Forssell is the son of the author Lars Forssell.