Biography

Marion Olsen was born in New Zealand and began her studies at Otago University in 1974. In 1981 she received grants from the Queen Elizabeth 11 Arts Council NZ, and the Blair Trust, to study singing in England.

She participated in several courses at the Britten-Pears School at Aldeburgh, and sang the role of Mrs Grose in the school’s widely acclaimed production of The Turn of the Screw at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1983.



Since then Marion Olsen has performed frequently as an oratorio soloist, appearing (in London) at the Barbican, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, St John’s Smith Square and Blackheath Concert Halls, in many concert halls and Cathedrals throughout Great Britain; and in Porto and Paris.

Her extensive repertoire includes the Verdi, Mozart and Dvorak Requiems, Bach Mass in B Minor and St Matthew Passion, Tippett’s A Child of our Time, Elgar’s The Apostles, The Kingdom and The Dream of Gerontius, the Beethoven Choral Symphony, and Britten’s Spring Symphony.



In Opera Marion Olsen has performed Opera Gala Concerts at Covent Garden, in Glasgow and with the RTE Orchestra in Dublin. For Wellington City Opera she has performed the title role in Carmen. Other roles include Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutti, with The European Opera Company in The Far East; Credo Soloist in Busoni’s Doctor Faust for English National Opera; Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana; Ludmilla in The Bartered Bride; Sixth Flower Maiden in Parsifal; and The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas.



On the recital platform Marion Olsen is very much in her element. She has returned to New Zealand a number of times to broadcast recitals for Radio New Zealand. She has given recitals in France, Germany, Kuala Lumpur, and New Zealand. She has performed in a series of Brahms and Spohr Lunch Hour Recitals in The Festival Hall Foyer. With Guitarist John Mills, Marion Olsen has performed a number of times including for the Royal Holloway College Recital Series in The Picture Gallery, and at The Riverhouse Barn in Walton-on-Thames.



Recent performances have included Operatic Arias and Songs by Gershwin at All Saints Church, Marlow; a guest appearance with The Reading Male Voice Choir in Henley-on-Thames; performances of Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Samson, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Paukenmesse, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Bach’s St John Passion in Napier Cathedral, New Zealand; several recital performances with pianist Nigel Foster, including a recital tour in NZ early 2008, a recital in Penang in 2010, and recitals in the UK in 2011.



Marion Olsen also has a busy private teaching practice, which has included teaching sixth form singing students at Henley College, Woking College, and relief teaching at Sherborne School for Girls.



‘A mezzo of high quality’

Music and Musicians