Marianne Thorsen, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Neeme Järvi
Biography Marianne Thorsen, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra & Neeme Järvi
Marianne Thorsen
has a varied musical life as a performer and is one of Norway's leading violinists. A keen chamber musician, Marianne has performed with such eminent artists as Håvard Gimse, Lawrence Power, Marc-André Hamelin, Truls Mørk, Paul Lewis, Pascal Rogé, Paul Watkins, Lars Anders Tomter and Leif Ove Andsnes at the Norwegian festivals in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger; and with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio at the BBC Proms in London and the Edinburgh, Bath and Cheltenham Festivals in the UK (live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3).
As a soloist, Marianne has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, all the Norwegian orchestras and many of the major orchestras in Scandinavia.
Marianne enjoys a regular collaboration with the Trondheim Soloists with whom she recorded Mozart's Violin Concertos 3, 4 and 5 for 2L to great critical acclaim, winning the Norwegian Spellemann prize in 2006. Her recording with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra of Ståle Kleiberg's Violin Concerto no. 1, dedicated to her, received an American Grammy nomination in 2010; and Marianne gave the world premiere of Ketil Hvoslef's Violin Concerto, also dedicated to her, broadcast live on Norwegian national television (NRK) with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra / Vassily Sinaisky. 2011-2014 saw the release of five CDs of music by Halvorsen and Svendsen on the Chandos label, with Thorsen as soloist alongside the Bergen Philharmonic / Neeme Järvi, including Svendsen's Violin Concerto.
Marianne Thorsen was leader of the internationally renowned Nash Ensemble of London from 2000-2015 and a founder member of the Leopold String Trio from 1991-2006 with extensive tours throughout Europe, Australia and the USA and numerous recordings for Hyperion Records in London.
Recent highlights include Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto with the Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra (KORK); recitals with the Norwegian pianist Håvard Gimse at the Bergen International Festival; the Oslo International Chamber Music Festival (with Radovan Vlatkovic, Liv Glaser and Håvard Gimse) and at the Edinburgh International Festival with the Nash Ensemble for BBC Radio 3 in August 2019. Marianne has just recorded Violin Concerto no. 2 by Ståle Kleiberg with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Peter Szilvay – to be released on 2L in April 2021.
Marianne was Artistic Director of the Vinterfestspill festival in Røros, Norway from 2009-2013. Since 2006 she has been professor of violin at the Department of Music at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.
Marianne plays on a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini from 1745, kindly on loan from the Dextra Musica Foundation.
