Marianne Thorsen

Hailing from Trondheim, Marianne enjoys a varied musical life as a performer. As a soloist, she 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.

With a particular passion for chamber music, Marianne was leader of London’s internationally-renowned Nash Ensemble from 2000–2015 and a founder member of the Leopold String Trio from 1991–2006, touring extensively and appearing at BBC Proms as well as numerous festivals. She has also performed with a range of eminent artists, from pianists Håvard Gimse and Leif Ove Andsnes to violist Lawrence Power.

Other notable projects include regular collaborations with Norway’s renowned string orchestra Trondheim Soloists, with whom she recorded Mozart’s third, fourth and fifth Violin Concertos to great critical acclaim, winning the Norwegian Spellemann prize in 2006. 2011–2014 also saw the release of five CDs of music by Halvorsen and Svendsen on the Chandos label, with Thorsen as soloist alongside the Bergen Philharmonic and Neeme Järvi.