‘A genuine rising star’ is how The Strad magazine described Ellen Nisbeth, when according her album Let Beauty Awake (BIS-2182) the distinction ‘The Strad Recommends’. The 2012 winner of both the Swedish and the Nordic Soloist Prize, she has since become established as a leading viola player on the international music scene. Nisbeth was selected as a ‘Rising Star’ of the 2017/18 season by ECHO (the European Concert Hall Organisation), which led to recitals across Europe with the pianist Bengt Forsberg. She is a frequent guest at the international festivals of Verbier, Bergen, Vinterfest and Risør, performing with musicians including Leif Ove Andsnes, Martin Fröst and Alexander Melnikov. Nature is a constant source of inspiration for Ellen Nisbeth, whose Sami roots in turn inspired Andrea Tarrodi to Ur Ædnan, a concerto for viola, yoik and orchestra which Nisbeth premièred in 2018. She has performed with some of the leading orchestras in Scandinavia, collaborating with conductors such as Neeme Järvi, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Dalia Stasevska. Ellen Nisbeth’s ambition to enrich the repertoire of her instrument has led to composers including Tarrodi, Britta Byström, Katarina Leyman, Susanna Risberg and Outi Tarkiainen dedicating works to her. Since 2014 she has been associate professor of viola at the University of Stavanger, and since 2017 she has held the same position at the Royal College of Music, Edsberg Manor, in Stockholm.
