Soloists' Biographies

Lena Susanne Norin

Mezzo soprano/contralto

After studying singing in Stockholm, Lena Susanne Norin specialized early music, training with René Jacobs and Dominique Vellard at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. During these formative years she performed and recorded extensively with the Ferrara ensemble. Following her studies she taught voice at the Schola Cantorum from 1986 to 1990, and has since then continued to teach.

Lena Susanne Norin is much sought after as a concert and oratorio singer around Europe, performing a vast array of music written from 1100 to 1900. During over two decades she has worked and recorded extensively with numerous renowned European ensembles: Ferrara Ensemble, Ensemble Gilles Binchois (medieval and renaissance chant and chanson), Sequentia (since 1987), La Chapelle Royale, Akantus, Rheinische Kantorei, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Akademie für Alte Musik, Musica Antiqua Köln, Cantus Cölln. International tours have led her to Europe and the USA, Asia and South America.

Lena Susanne also performs Scandinavian traditional music with Ulv, a trio with Agnethe Christensen and Elizabeth Gaver. While she is most eminent in the field of early music, she is by no means a stranger to the romantic repertoire, having sung the part of Erda in the 2002 produktion of Wagner´s Das Rheingold at the Stockholm Folk Opera.

Upcoming Concerts

19 June 2010
Montalbâne Festival, Germany
Fragments for the End of Time

24 September 2010
Cité de la Musique, Paris
The Rheingold Curse

See full concert schedule

News

Early Music America Annual Award

Early Music America, the national service organization for the field of early music, has announced the winners of its 2010 awards recognizing outstanding accomplishments in early music. Benjamin Bagby will receive the Howard Mayer Brown Award for lifetime achievement in the field of early music. The awards will be presented at the EMA Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony at the Berkeley Early Music Festival on 11 June 2010.

Visions of Paradise

In September 2009 a new film about the life of Hildegard von Bingen, directed by Margarethe von Trotta and starring Barbara Sukowa, was released in Germany. More

Interview with Benjamin Bagby

WNYC, New York Public Radio, aired an interview with the ‘Beowulf’ performer, B. Bagby. Listen to the show

Beowulf on DVD

Benjamin Bagby’s legendary performance of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf (part I) recorded live in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Visit the Beowulf website