Marianne Thorsen - Violinist

Marianne Thorsen, first prizewinner at the 2003 Sion International Violin Competition (Switzerland), was born in Trondheim, Norway. She studied with Gyorgy Pauk at the Purcell School and the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she was awarded the Roth Prize and the DipRAM, the Academy's highest award for performance.

Marianne is a founder member of the Leopold String Trio. They have toured extensively in the UK and broadcast for BBC Radio 3 from Edinburgh, Bath and Cheltenham Festivals. Abroad, they have given concerts at Carnegie Hall New York, Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Philharmonie in Cologne.

The Trio recorded the complete Beethoven String Trios, the Mozart Divertimento K563 and the Mozart Piano Quartets with Paul Lewis for Hyperion to great critical acclaim. They have recently recorded the string trios by Dohnanyi, Martinu and Schoenberg. Future recordings include the Schubert 'Trout' Quintet with Paul Lewis and the complete Brahms Piano Quartets with Marc-André Hamelin (Hyperion).

Marianne is also leader of the Nash Ensemble. They are frequent visitors to British music festivals and are heard on radio, at the South Bank, the BBC Proms, at music clubs throughout the country and have a regular series at Wigmore Hall.

Marianne has performed concertos with leading orchestras including the BBC Symphony, the Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Prague Philharmonia, Trondheim Soloists and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Future solo engagements include return visits to the Philharmonia, Oslo Philharmonic and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras.

As soloist and director, Marianne is touring the complete Mozart Violin Concertos in Norway this season with the Trondheim Soloists.

Marianne teaches at the Royal Academy of Music, London and is also a Professor at the Trondheim Conservatoire of Music.