After auditions in November, The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir has taken in two new altos.
Here you can get to know Maria Dale Johannessen.
Maria has studied at Barratt Due Institute of Music, and the Academy of Opera (Oslo) where she completed her masters studies in 2020. She is an active ensemble singer and has been a deputy in the Soloists’ Choir several times, firstly as a bachelors student in 2016.
I came into the soloists’ choir with great awe and respect. In two days I had tried to learn both a Bach motet, a twelve-tone piece by Schönberg and an atonal work of Lachenmann. You could safely say that I have had a solid improvement in my hit-rate over the years!
Maria would like to especially highlight two productions as special memories from her time with the choir: the performance of Poulenc’s Figure Humaine with conductor Yuval Weinberg in 2017, and the recording of Berio’s A-Ronne in February 2021.
Figure Humaine had a large effect on me, and has remained as one of my favourite pieces for choir. With strong texts and music from war, the work nevertheless leaves the performer and audience with a sense of hope of and belief that things can be better. And in the middle of the pandemic lockdown we were able to gather round Berio’s absurd and playful work A-Ronne. In five days we produced a pretty clever and fine result if I may so myself.
Soloists’ choir’s recordings of the works can be watched on YouTube.
As a soloist, Maria has broad experience both in church music and opera. In 2022 she will perform in “Forelska i Handel” at the opera in Kristiansand, “Flagstad- an opera” at the Norwegian National Opera, and “Lystlige Koner – en griljaopera” with her own opera company Skeive Stemmer. Maria also sings in Det Norske Damekor.
One of the most fun things about singing in an ensemble is that you can dive into so many different genres, traditions, styles and techniques. You can learn both from and with some of the most competent and knowledgeable people in their fields- and you always want to stretch yourself to match your colleagues. I so much look forward to more great experiences with the Soloists’ choir in the coming years
We welcome Maria as a permanent singer in the Norwegian Soloists’ choir!
