Marita Solberg

Marita Solberg (Marita Kvarving Sølberg) (March 22, 1976) is a Norwegian soprano notable for her role as Solveig in Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt. She has worked with a number of leading orchestras and festivals throughout states in Europe and the United States of America.

Education

Solberg studied at the National College of Operatic Art in Oslo and at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

Career

Solberg has worked with conductors such as Marc Minkowski, Zubin Mehta, Michel Plasson, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Manfred Honeck, Neeme Järvi, Phillip Herreweghe, Michael Hofstetter, Enrique Mazzola, Bruno Weil, Andreas Spering, Olaf Henzold, Konrad Junghänel, Miquel Ortega, Peter Neumann, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph König, Roman Brogli-Sacher and Shao-Chia Lü.

In 2006-2008 she was a principal singer at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. Other opera engagements brought her to Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, Komische Oper Berlin and Norwegian National Opera. Her roles have included Michaela in Carmen, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Servilia in La clemenza di Tito, the title role in Zaide, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Celia in Lucio Silla, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Marzelline in Fidelio, Charmion in Massenet’s Cléopatre, and the Angel in Messiaen’s Saint Francois D'Assise.

Solberg has recorded the role of Solveig in Grieg’s Peer Gynt for the record label BIS (released in June 2005) and has sung it on numerous occasions in Scandinavia as well as in Barcelona, Madrid, Stuttgart, St. Petersburg and on tour in the US. In June 2006 she sang the role with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the conductor Neeme Järvi. The concert was transmitted live on German radio and television.

Engagements the autumn of 2008 included Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Gretel in Hansel und Gretel and the title role in Zaide at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the conductor Zubin Mehta. Sh has also sung Una voce dal cielo from Don Carlo as well as arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at a gala concert at the Norwegian National Opera, and Bellezza in George Frideric Handel’s Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno with the conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini.

In 2009 Solberg performed the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Handel’s Messiah in Moscow with the conductor Peter Neumann, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

Forthcoming engagements include Michaela in Carmen as well as Drusilla and Virtù in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Norwegian National Opera, Solveig in Grieg’s Peer Gynt with the conductor Marc Minkowski, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare in Beaune with the conductor Eduardo López Banzo, concerts with music by Henry Purcell, Handel and Joseph Haydn at the Salzburg Festival with the conductor Marc Minkowski, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem with the conductor Lawrence Renes, as well as Antonio Vivaldi’s Nulla in mondo pax sincera with the Israel Camerata. She will return to the Staatsoper Stuttgart for Celia in Lucio Silla. She will also record Handel’s Brockes Passion with the conductor Peter Neumann.

Recognition

In July 2004 Solberg was the 3rd-prize winner as well as the winner of the International Media Jury Award at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna. In August 2001 she was the 1st-prize winner of the Queen Sonja International Singing Competition in Oslo.

Discography

• Grieg - Peer Gynt (The Complete Incidental Music), 2005
• Grieg - Olav Trygvason / Orchestral Songs, 2006

External links

• Marita Kvarving Sølberg official WWW
• [1] Solberg's biography at Artefact Artists Management (AAM) website
• [2] Solberg singing Solveigs Sang (Solveig's Song), YouTube
• [3] Vocal samples at AAM website

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Name	Solberg, Marita
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Date of birth	March 22, 1976
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