Mari Silje Samuelsen (b. 1984, Hamar, Norway) began violin at age three, studying with Arve Tellefsen for about a decade in Oslo, then at the Barratt Due Institute of Music under Stephan Barratt-Due, and later with Zakhar Bron; she earned two master’s degrees from the Zurich University of the Arts in 2012. She has built a career interpreting both core repertoire and contemporary/minimalist composers such as Philip Glass, Max Richter, and Brian Eno, often performing alongside her cellist brother Håkon Samuelsen. She signed to Deutsche Grammophon, releasing the albums Mari (2019), LYS (2022), and LIFE (2024), following earlier releases including Pas de Deux and Nordic Noir. In 2014 she and her brother commissioned film composer James Horner to write a double concerto for them.

Samuelsen has helped bring contemporary and minimalist repertoire to mainstream classical audiences through a major-label recording career and high-profile crossover collaborations.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Samuelsen