Mari Samuelsen

Violinist Mari Samuelsen frequently appeared alongside her sibling, cellist Håkon Samuelsen, both on stage and in recorded performances. Following the completion of her studies in the early 2010s, she began establishing herself independently as a solo performer.

Samuelsen entered the world on December 21, 1984, and took up the violin at the age of three, receiving instruction at a local music institution close to her residence in Hamar, Norway. Before long she drew the notice of violinist Arve Tellefsen in Oslo, with whom she worked for a decade. The artistic connection between Mari and Håkon deepened during their teenage years through inventive joint programs, among them a 2003 event in which both performed on Stradivarius instruments. She pursued further training at Oslo’s Barratt Due Institute of Music before relocating to Zurich, Switzerland, where she studied with Zakhar Bron at the Zurich University of the Arts. In 2012 she earned two master’s degrees from that institution and participated in master classes led by Ana Chumachenco, Ivry Gitlis, Donald Weilerstein, and Pamela Frank. Her first recording, made with Håkon in 2015, was the album Pas de Deux, which included a newly composed work by the late film composer James Horner—one of his final pieces prior to his death in a plane crash.

She has presented solo recitals at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Wolf Trap outside Washington, D.C., the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and Zurich’s Tonhalle. Her concerto engagements have included partnerships with conductors David Zinman, Seiji Ozawa, and Vasily Petrenko, among others. In chamber settings she has performed with Leif Ove Andsnes, Igor Levit, and numerous additional leading musicians. In 2017 she reunited with Håkon for the program Nordic Noir, supported by the forward-thinking Trondheimsolisten chamber orchestra.

Samuelsen performs on a G.B. Guadagnini violin (Turin 1773) kindly loaned by Oslo’s Anders Sveaas charitable foundation and employs a Dominique Peccatte bow on loan from Sparebanken Hedmark. In 2019 she joined the Deutsche Grammophon roster for her first solo album, titled Mari. Two years later she released the album Lys, captured with the Scoring Berlin Orchestra.