Berit Norbakken is one of Scandinavia's most versatile sopranos in her field. She masters a repertoire that spands from baroque to contemporary music, including folk music. She is a frequent soloist in oratorias and reularly collaborates with leading ensembles, orchestras and conductors in renowned concert halls worlwide.
Berit Norbakken belongs to a special group of sopranos characterized by courage and exceptional abilities. Very few sopranos have virtuosic and challenging works such as György Ligeti's "Mysteries of the Macabre", Kaija Saariaho's "Quatre Instants" and György Kurtág's "Kafka-fragments" in their repertoire.
Gor her numerous recordings, she receives glowing reviews from the international music community. She has developed a close collaboration with music of Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga with the BBC Philharmonic has been very well recieved. Norbakken has performed at the Sidney Opera House, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, May Festival Cincinnati and in a large number of diverse concert programs throughout Europe, including performances with Lorenzo Coppola feauturing music by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert.
Her roles include Marzelline (Beethoven's Fidelio), Rosina (Rossini's Il Barbiere de Sevilla), Balkis (Haydn's L'Incontro Improvviso), Aci (Händel's Aci, Galatea e Polifemo), Adonis (Scarlatti's Il Giardino di Amore), Abel (Scarlatti's Il Primo Omicidio), and Belinda (Purcell's Dido & Aeneas). She has also worked closely with the Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist, due tu her doctoral research.
Others about Berit:
“I can honestly say that if this was the last performance I ever heard, I would have died perfectly happily. Amazing.”
(Simon Cummings (5:4) after listening to Kaija Saariaho‘s “Quatre Instants” at Nordic Music Days in Bodø, Norway, November 2019.)
BBC Radio 3 gave the following review of her recording of Ave Maria by Fartein Valen (Refractions, 2013, BIS Records): «…and so wonderfully performed, and the fabulous soprano, Berit Norbakken, who has exactly the right blend of straightness, so you can hear every note, but when she decides to open up, it´s just fabulous, for me, it´s got everything…»
