The Norwegian mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland studied at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo. Her first major international engagement was as a member of the soloist ensemble at Staatsoper Hannover. Since then she has established a flourishing international career, equally at home in oratorio, recitals, concerts, opera and contemporary music-theatre.
She has worked with conductors such as Shalev Ad-El, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Giancarlo Andretta, Fabio Biondi, Fabio Bonizzoni, Frans Brüggen, Fredrik Burstedt, Pierre Cao, Aaron Edward Carpenè, Harry Christophers, Christophe Coin, Thomas Dausgaard, Peter Dijkstra, John Helmer Fiore, Gottfried von der Goltz, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Philippe Herreweghe, Manfred Honeck, René Jacobs, Robert King, Vincent de Kort, Nicholas Kraemer, Nicolas Krüger, Andrew Manze, Michael McCarthy, Marc Minkowski, Emilio Moreno, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Philip Picket, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Vasily Petrenko, Ari Rasilainen, Daniel Reuss, Joshua Rifkin, Helmut Rilling, Mats Rondin, Christophe Rousset, Sébastien Rouland, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Federico Maria Sardelli, Jordi Savall, Etienne Siebens, Andreas Spering, Christoph Spering, Philipp von Steinaecker, Masaaki Suzuki, Thomas Søndergård, Peter Szilvay, Robin Ticciati, Jos van Immerseel, Bruno Weil and Michael A. Willens.
Marianne Beate Kielland is a much noted concert singer and she regularly appears in major concert halls and at festivals throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia. She has built an unusually vast concert repertoire that spans music from the early 17th Century works of Monteverdi, via Couperin, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Berlioz, Wagner, Dvorak, Elgar, Mahler, Schönberg, Berg, Weill, Berio, to contemporary works of Cage, Stockhausen and Ratkje.
Operatic appearances on stage and in concerts include Messaggiera and Proserpina in Monteverdi’s L'Orfeo in Oslo, the title role in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans in Santiago de Compostela, Fernando in Attilio Ariosti’s La Fede nei tradimenti in Siena and Montpellier, Hamor in Handel’s Jephta as well as Adalgiso in Scarlatti’s Carlo, Re d'Allemagna in Stavanger, Ercole in Caldara’s Il piu bel nome in Lleida (Spain), and Aronne in Francesco Nicolò Fago’s Il Faraone Sommerso in Seville, Ourense, Tui, Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña, Lugo, Cuenca (all in Spain), Krakow and Salzburg.
She has made more than 40 CD recordings of oratorios, operas, cantatas and “Lieder” by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Caldara, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Schumann, Mussorgsky, Martin, Chausson, Korngold, von Suppé, Schönberg, Webern, Berg and Sigurd Islandsmoen. In 2012 she was nominated to a GRAMMY Award in the category Best Classical Vocal Solo for the album Veslemøy Synsk, which features works by composers Edvard Grieg and Olav Anton Thommesen.
Highlights in 2012 included Apollo in Handel's Terpsichore in Versailles, Sablé and Halle with Les Talens Lyriques, Brahms’ Alto-rhapsody at the Norwegian National Opera, Anitra in Grieg's Peer Gynt in Cologne, Essen and Dortmund with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Bach's Mass in B minor in Madrid with Le Concert des Nations, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Pergolesi's Salve Regina and arias by Vivaldi with Europa Galante, Bach's St. Matthew Passion in Paris, Lyon, Lorient and Vézélay with Les Talens Lyriques, Berlioz' Les nuits d'été with Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Fernando in Ariosti's La Fede nei tradimenti in Krakow with Europa Galante, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Duruflé's Requiem with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and concerts of Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder, Elgar's The Music Makers, Haydn's Missa Cellensis, Mahler’s Rückertlieder in various Norwegian cities.
Engagements in 2013 included Apollo in Handel's Terpsichore in Brussels, Malta and Caen with Les Talens Lyriques, arias by Purcell and Mahler in Oslo with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in Cologne with Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Mozart's Davide penitente in Gent and Antwerp with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Oslo with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra as well as in Örebro with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, concerts in Bordeaux, Fontfroide and Utrecht with Le Concert des Nations, Handel's Dixit Dominus and Bach's Magnificat in La Chaise Dieu and Rheingau with The King’s Consort, Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda in Budapest with Budapest Festival Orchestra, Handel's Messiah in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca with Orquestra Barroca Catalana, Mozart's Requiem in Tokyo, Sapporo and Saitama with Bach Collegium Japan as well as in Bergen with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Bach's Mass in B minor Aldersbach and Blaibach with Das Neue Orchester, Verdi's Requiem with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and concerts of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Kindertotenlieder and Rückert-Lieder, Elgar's Sea pictures and Bach's St. Matthew Passion in various Norwegian cities. She also toured extensively with Edvard Grieg/Olav Anton Thommesen's song cycle Veslemøy Synsk.
2014 has so far included Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Haydn's Arianna a Naxos with Budapest Festival Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem and Mass in c minor in Stockholm, Bach's Mass in B minor with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and concerts in Barcelona with Le Concert des Nations.
