Marianne Thorsen

Marianne Thorsen began playing the violin at the age of four at the municipal music school in Trondheim, where Bjarne Fiskum was her principal teacher. She studied with Felicity Lipman in London and later with György Pauk at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1994 she graduated from the Royal Academy with a DipRAM. In 1998 Marianne was nominated Young Soloist of the Year by the Norwegian concert institution Rikskonsertene. She won the Carl F. Flesch Outstanding Merit Prize in 1992, the Emily English Award 1995 and the Concours Internationale de Violon de Sion-Valais 2003. Marianne has performed as soloist with leading orchestras including the Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Prague Philharmonia and the Oslo Philharmonic.

Marianne Thorsen is also a founding member of the Leopold String Trio. The trio has become one of Europe’s leading chamber music ensembles and have given concerts at Carnegie Hall, Musikverein and the Concertgebouw. In 2000 she was appointed leader of the Nash Ensemble of London. Marianne is professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Department of Music at NTNU in Trondheim. On this recording she plays a Pressenda violin made in Turin in 1841.

photo: from booklet 2L038