The Swedish cultural landscape is diminished with the passing of Martin Nyström, a music critic for Dagens Nyheter, who died on Friday at the age of 71. His death, confirmed by his family, marks the loss of a uniquely insightful voice who connected disparate worlds of art and experience.
Nyström’s career spanned decades, beginning with a stint at Expressen in 1980 before joining Dagens Nyheter in 1993, where he became a fixture covering the Swedish and international opera and classical music scenes. But to define him solely by his beat would be a profound understatement. He wasn’t simply a critic; he was a cultural connector, a ‘folkbildare’ – a public educator – as described by Björn Wiman, culture editor at Dagens Nyheter. Wiman noted Nyström’s “generosity and fantasy as a critic were unique, and he always retained the ability to be enchanted and captivated by what was happening in music and on stage.”
That ability to be captivated stemmed, perhaps, from a life lived with a keen awareness of both the grand and the mundane. Nyström’s early life included a formative experience as a mess attendant aboard the M/S Canada, sailing to South America as a teenager. He often recalled the image of dolphins playing around the ship as it approached Rio de Janeiro, a memory that spoke to his capacity to find wonder in the world. This early exposure to “the near and the far, the familiar and the foreign,” as he learned from Evert Taube, clearly shaped his perspective.
His academic pursuits – musicology, literature, and philosophy at the University of Gothenburg – provided a robust intellectual foundation. He later taught music history at the Gothenburg Conservatory from 1976 to 1993. However, Nyström wasn’t one to confine himself to academic rigor. He co-founded the free opera group Utomjordiska Teatern (later Utomjordiska Barockbolaget) in 1986, demonstrating a commitment to bringing music to life in unconventional ways.
What truly set Nyström apart was his remarkable ability to move seamlessly between seemingly disparate artistic realms. As one colleague noted, he could discuss Wagner, Evert Taube, Håkan Hellström, and modern dance music with equal passion and insight. He found connections where others saw divisions, illuminating the common threads that run through diverse artistic expressions. He shared a fondness for director Christoph Marthaler, praising his ability to “conjure magic” with Shakespeare and Mozart. He also frequently returned to the work of Finnish-Swedish poet Agneta Enckell, appreciating her ability to shift dimensions within a single sentence, exploring “processes and passages, thresholds and sudden transformations.”
Nyström’s influence extended beyond his published reviews and academic work. He possessed a deep understanding of the cultural currents shaping Sweden and the wider world. His weather reports, delivered during phone calls to family, weren’t merely meteorological updates; they were observations of the horizon, both literal and metaphorical. He was, a chronicler of the human condition, using music and art as lenses through which to examine our shared experiences.
The question now, as one colleague poignantly asked, is: “Who will now say that everything is possible?” Martin Nyström’s legacy lies in his unwavering belief in the power of art to inspire, to connect, and to remind us of the boundless potential of the human spirit. His passing leaves a void in the Swedish cultural landscape, but his insightful voice will continue to resonate through his extensive body of work.
Dagens Nyheter’s full report on Nyström’s passing can be found here.
