Education
Sædén studied at the Kungliga Musikhögskolan in Stockholm from 1943-1952, his teachers there including Arne Sunnegårdh, Martin Öhman and Wilhelm Freund. Having joined the choir of Engelbrekt Church in 1944 (where he later sang in the Street Matthew Passion), Saedén studied in Rome in 1952 and at the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1952, 1954 and 1955.
Career
He made a few recordings and appeared in the 1975 Bergman film of The magic flute. He received degrees in higher cantor and organist degree from the Royal College of Music in 1946, and a degree in vocal teaching 1952. From 1957 to 1983 he was singing teacher at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm.
Among over 100 roles which he sang were the Count (Le Nozze di Figaro), Beckmesser, Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Scarpia, Jochanaan, Golaud, Pimen, Wozzeck (Swedish premiere, 1957) and Nick Shadow in The Rake"s Progress (Swedish premiere, 1961).
He created roles in several opera premieres:
Ture Rangström: title role in Gilgamesj (Stockholm, 1952)
Karl-Birger Blomdahl: Mimaroben in Aniara (1959)
Lars-Johan Werle: Julien in Drömmen om Thérèse (1964)
Hilding Rosenberg: Don Felix in Hus medical dubbel ingång
Franz Berwald: Saint Phar in The Queen of Golconda, (1968, centennial premiere)
Luigi Dallapiccola: title role in Ulisse (Deutsche Oper, Berlin, 1968)
György Ligeti: Nekrotzar in Le Grand Macabre (1978)
Lars Runsten: Amorina (1993). Appearances outside Sweden included Bayreuth (Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, Herald in Lohengrin and Donner in Rheingold), the Edinburgh Festival in 1959 and 1974), Savonlinna in 1989 (Henrik in Singoalla by Gunnar de Frumerie), Hamburg, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1960, 1981), Montreal (1967), Moscow, Munich and Oslo.
Membership
In 1965, he became a member of the Stockholm Music Academy, and in 1966 a Swedish hovsångare (court singer by special appointement). Sædén first appeared at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1952 and was a member of the company until 1981.