Marianne Beate Kielland

"A singer with such a charisma challenged her colleagues." (Dreh-Punkt-Kultur) Mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland is famous for her strong stage presence and musical integrity. Gramophone Magazine writes about her: "The mezzo-soprano is quite outstanding: strong, firm, sensitive in modulations, imaginative in her treatment of words, with a voice pure in quality, wide in range and unfalteringly true in intonation."

She is educated from Norwegian Academy of Music, where she studied with Svein Bjørkøy. She has also studied with Oren Brown and Barbara Bonney.

She is one of Europe’s foremost concert singers, and she regularly appears in the concert halls of Europe, Japan and America with conductors such as: Masaaki Suzuki, Andrew Manze, Michel Corboz, Leonardo Alarcon, Herbert Blomstedt, Christopher Moulds, Jordi Savall, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Rene Jacobs, Pablo Heras-Casado, Han-Na Chang, Juanjo Mena and Ottavio Dantone.

In 2012 she was US Grammy nominee in "Best Vocal Classical Album» for "Veslemøy Synsk" by Olav Anton Thommessen, and with this and more than 60 other recordings and a wide range of repertoire and performances, she is established as a remarkable interpreter of music from baroque to contemporary era. She is the artistic leader of Oslo Chamber Music Festival and part-time associate professor at Norwegian Academy of Music.