The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman

The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman
Studio album by Sparks
Released	14 August 2009
Studio	Hollywood American Studios (Hollywood, California) Radio Drama Studio (Stockholm, Sweden)[1]
Genre	Radio musical pop opera[2]
Length	64:32
Label	Lil' Beethoven (English) SR Records (Swedish)
Sparks chronology
Exotic Creatures of the Deep (2008) The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman (2009) Two Hands, One Mouth: Live In Europe (2013)
Sparks studio albums chronology
Exotic Creatures of the Deep (2008) The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman (2009) FFS (2015)

The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman is the 22nd album by American rock group Sparks, released in August 2009. The duo's first work in the radio musical genre, the album is built around an imaginary visit to Hollywood by Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman in the mid-1950s. Its storyline focuses on the divides between European and American culture, between art and commerce. Unlike other Sparks albums, the work is conceived as a single piece, to be listened to as a whole, rather than a collection of stand-alone songs.

The work was commissioned by Sveriges Radio Radioteatern, the radio drama department of Sweden's national radio broadcaster. First released in the Swedish broadcast version in August 2009, with an English-language version following in November 2009, it features a cast of Swedish and American actors and a variety of musical styles ranging from opera to vaudeville and pop. The album's recording was a collaborative effort – while the music and English vocals were recorded by Sparks in the United States, the album's Swedish vocals were recorded by Sveriges Radio in Stockholm, and then sent to the Maels via an FTP server. The album and its ambitious dramatic concept received favourable reviews and spawned both a live show and plans to turn it into a film.