Nils Anders Mortensen was born in Flekkefjord in 1971. He began playing piano at age three, and in 1986 he won the Norwegian Young Pianist Competition. He studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, École Normale in Paris, and Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover with Einar Steen-Nøkleberg. Other important teachers have been Tatjana Nikolajeva and Hans Leygraf.
Mortensen was the recipient of the prestigious Concerts Norway ‘Debutant of the Year’ award in 1996. He has won international prizes and grants. In 1998 he won the Mozarteum Prize in Salzburg. In 2004 Mortensen received the Robert Levin Memorial Prize.
Mortensen has appeared as soloist with Norway’s leading orchestras. He recorded piano concertos of Geirr Tveitt with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. His first solo album Im Freien (LWC1032), featuring music of Debussy, Grieg, and Bartók, was released in 2012 to glowing reviews.
Mortensen has also released 12 recordings with mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland on the LAWO Classics label: Früh (LWC1033), Sæle jolekveld (LWC1040), Grieg (LWC1059), Young Elling (LWC1072), The New Song (LWC1097), Whispering Mozart (LWC1111), Songs: Kielland/Dørumsgaard (LWC1145), Einsamkeit – Songs by Mahler (LWC1157), Eivind Groven Songs (LWC1178), Schumann Lieder (LWC1197) with baritone Johannes Weisser, and Så kort ein sommar menneska har – Songs by Gisle Kverndokk (LWC1220), and Sigurd Lie Songs, Vol. 1 (LWC1256.
In 2015 he released the solo recording In finstrer Mitternacht (LWC1084), featuring music of Brahms, and Tundra (LWC1092), a recording of solely Russian music, with double-bassist Knut Erik Sundquist. In 2016 he released Schumann: Violin Sonatas Op. 105 & Op. 121 (LWC1110) with violinist Arvid Engegård. In 2019 he released his third solo recording on the LAWO Classics label, Bach: Ouvertüre nach Französischer Art, BWV 831 / Sarabande con Partite, BWV 990 / Englische Suite Nr. 6 d-Moll, BWV 811 (LWC1174), and in 2020 he released Schumann: Piano Quintet, Op. 44 / Piano Quartet, Op. 47 (LWC1189) with the Engegård Quartet. His fourth solo recording, J.S. Bach: Partitas Nos. 1, 5 & 6 (LWC1249), was released in 2023.

“A singer with such charisma challenged her colleagues.” (Dreh-Punkt-Kultur) Mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland is famous for her strong stage presence and musical integrity. Gramophone Magazine writes about her: “The mezzo-soprano is quite outstanding: strong, firm, sensitive in modulations, imaginative in her treatment of words, with a voice pure in quality, wide in range and unfalteringly true in intonation.” She graduated from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she studied with Svein Bjørkøy. Her other teachers have included Oren Brown and Barbara Bonney. Considered today one of Europe’s leading singers, she performs regularly on major concert stages in Europe, America and The East with conductors such as Masaaki Suzuki, Andrew Manze, Petr Popelka, Michel Corboz, Leonardo Alarcon, Herbert Blomstedt, Jordi Savall, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Fabio Biondi and René Jacobs.
In 2012 she received a Grammy nomination in the category ‘Best Classical Vocal Solo’ for her recording of Veslemøy Synsk by the composer Olav Anton Thommessen. In 2021 she received a prestigious OPUS Klassik nomination in the category ‘Female Singer of the Year’ for her recording of Schumann Lieder. With more than sixty other albums in addition to a demanding concert schedule, Marianne Beate Kielland is established as an exceptional performer with a wide-ranging repertoire from baroque to contemporary.
Together with pianist Nils Anders Mortensen she has previously released 12 recordings on the LAWO Classics label: Früh (LWC1033), Sæle jolekveld (LWC1040), Grieg (LWC1059), Young Elling (LWC1072), The New Song (LWC1097), Whispering Mozart (LWC1111), Songs: Kielland/Dørumsgaard (LWC1145), Einsamkeit – Songs by Mahler (LWC1157), Eivind Groven Songs (LWC1178), Schumann Lieder (LWC1197) with baritone Johannes Weisser, and Så kort ein sommar menneska har – Songs by Gisle Kverndokk (LWC1220), and Sigurd Lie Songs, Vol. 1 (LWC1256).
In 2015 she released Påsketid (LWC1077) with violinist Elise Båtnes and organist Kåre Nordstoga, in 2017 Terra Nova (LWC1125) with composer and pianist Jan Gunnar Hoff, in 2020 The Lofoten Oratorio by Ketil Bjørnstad (LWC1202) with Lofoten Voices and MinEnsemblet, in 2022 Lamento (LWC1226), a collection of baroque laments, with Oslo Circles, as well as Jean Sibelius: Orchestral Songs (LWC1239) with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.