Anna Nilsen - violin

Anna Margrethe Nilsen has been praised for her “virtuosity, expressiveness and a highly successful convergence of sensitive interpretative lines together with an exquisite melodic treatment” (“Ritmo” Magazine).

At the age of nine she made her solo debut with the Norwegian Radio and Television Orchestra, and was later invited to appear as a soloist with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kaliningrad Chamber Orchestra, the Murcia Symphony Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, the Asker and Bærum Symphony Orchestras, the Novgorod Chamber Orchestra, the Norwegian Opera Orchestra, the Galicia Chamber Orchestra, the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, and the Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra.

She has performed throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America, in prestigious venues such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, Oslo Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Grieg Hall in Bergen, Teatro Cervantes in Malaga, Leon Auditorio, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Glinka Hall, and Teatro de las Condes in Santiago, Chile. As an avid chamber musician, she has had the pleasure of playing with distinguished artists such as Lars Anders Tomter, Guy Braunstein, Liza Fershtman, Henri Demarquette, Øyvind Gimse, the American String Quartet, Paul Neubauer, Amanda Forsyth, and Pinchas Zukerman, and is one of the violinists in the newly formed Picasso Quartet. As guest concertmaster of the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, she toured Spain, performing at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Auditorio de Zaragoza, and Palau de Valencia, with conductor and violinist Julian Rachlin.

She began playing the violin at the age of 4 and has studied with Professor Isaac Schuldman. She earned a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, studying with Patinka Kopec and Pinchas Zukerman as part of The Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program. Nilsen is a winner of the Sparre Olsen (Norway), Eisenberg-Fried (New York), Lillian Fuchs (New York), and Norwegian National Young Violin Competitions, and is a recipient of the Dobloug Prize, the Hugo Kortschak Prize, and the Málaga Medal of Honor.

Recent and upcoming highlights include solo appearances with the National University of Santiago Orchestra (Chile), the Murcia Symphony Orchestra, the León Youth Orchestra, the Galamian Academy Orchestra, and the Barratt Due Chamber Orchestra, performing violin concertos by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Vivaldi, recitals and chamber music concerts with Pinchas Zukerman in New York, the Miami International Piano Festival in Florida, the MurciArt Music Festival in Murcia (Spain), the Podium Festival in Haugesund (Norway), guest concertmaster for the ADDA Sinfonica in Alicante, and CD recordings for the Aria Classics label of the complete sonatas of Busoni and Brahms, alongside pianists Josu de Solaun and Oscar Martín.

She is the co-founder and violin professor at the Galamian International Academy and the co-founder and director of the Málaga Clásica festival.