The Swedish contralto, Lena Susanne Norin, studied singing in Stockholm. Afterwards she studied the songs of the middle ages, renaissance and baroque with René Jacobs and Dominique Vellard at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel,
All over the world audiences and critics alike have been captured by Lena Susanne Norin's rich alto voice and its exceeding beauty, as well as by her expressive interpretation of a wide range of early music repertoire - from Hildegard von Bingen to J.S. Bach. She has become much sought after as a concert and oratorio singer around Europe.She is most well known for her interpretation of music from the middle ages to the baroque, but is no stranger to the romantic repertoire.
After many years abroad Lena Susanne Norin returned to live in Sweden, but the greatest part of her work is still on the continent, and her work as a concert soloist has taken her to many different European countries. She has worked and recorded for radio and the gramophone with many of Europe's most well known ensembles and conductors of early music, for example, Sequentia, the Ferrara Ensemble (Crawford Young), La Chapelle Royale, Rheinische Kantorei (Hermann Max), Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Musica Antiqua Köln, Cantus Cölln and René Jacobs, and Akantus. Together with these ensembles she has toured Europe and the USA, Asia and South America.
2000 included J.S. Bach's St. John's Passion (BWV 245) at the Philharmonia in Köln, a tour of the USA with Sequentia and a multi-media performance of Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach's cantata Cassandra at the festival in Knechsteden. In 2001, amont other things, she toured with the new production of the Islandic Edda with Sequentia, performing in Germany, Holland, England and the USA. In 2002 she sang the part of Erda in Wagner's Das Rheingold at Folkoperan in Stockholm. She also appeared with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and toured with Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin. In 2003 she made her debut at the Royal Opera in Stockholm.
From 1986 to 1990 Lena Susanne Norin taught voice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel.
Recordings: von Bingen: Canticles of ecstasy Harmonia Mundi, El sabio: Vox Iberia Harmonia Mundi, Bordersholmer Marienklage Harmonia Mundi, Ballade a trois chant Arcana, Hildebrandston Arcana, Schein: Israelbrumen Harmonia Mundi, Schütz: Weinnachthistorie Harmonia Mundi, J.S. Bach/Antonio Caldara/Johann Kuhnau: Magnificat (BWV 243a) EMI, Lescurel: "Fontain de grace" Virgin, Les escholliers de Paris Harmonica, Ecole de Notre Dame Harmonica, Amando e Desiando Alice, J.S. Bach: St. Matthews Passion (BWV 244), Capriccio. |