Mari Silje Samuelsen is a Norwegian violinist. She is the sister of cellist Håkon Samuelsen, with whom she often performs throughout Norway and Europe. Samuelsen grew up in Hamar, and began playing violin at age three at a local music school outside the city. By age four, she became a student of violinist Arve Tellefsen, who has called Mari and Håkon Samuelsen “among the greatest string music talents in Norway”. She studied with Tellefsen in Oslo, and played with him for almost 10 years.
Samuelsen later studied at the Barratt Due Institute for Music in Oslo under the tutelage of violinist Stephan Barratt-Due. For the last ten years, she has been a student of the world-renowned Russian professor and violinist Zakhar Bron. She earned two master’s degrees at Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland in 2012.
She has collaborated with such artists as Max Richter, Jeff Mills, and Dubfire. Max Richter said of Samuelsen: “Apart from being a wonderful violinist, Mari has an instinctive understanding of my compositional world and an uncanny ability to communicate my intentions”. In 2014, Mari and Håkon performed the world premiere of Pas de Deux, a double concerto they commissioned James Horner to compose.
Samuelsen released her debut solo album, Mari, in June 2019, via the label Deutsche Grammophon. It includes mostly modern and minimalist pieces, which she performs with Konzerthausorchester Berlin and conductor Jonathan Stockhammer. The album includes works from Max Richter, Bach, Brian Eno, and Philip Glass, among others. Her performance of Richter’s composition “November” from Memoryhouse (2002) was released as a single before Mari was released.
2022 marked the release of her second album for the distinctive Yellow Label, named LYS, meaning “light” in Norwegian features new commissions for her from the likes of Hannah Peel, Anna Meredith, Laura Massoto and MEREDI as well as existing works from Caroline Shaw and Hildur Guðnadóttir. Very unusual for classical recordings, this album along-side with her first solo recording Nordic Noir as well as the 2019 release MARI were hits in the Norwegian pop charts (reaching the No.1 and No.2 spots respectively).
