The Norwegian Soloists' Choir

The Norwegian Soloists' Choir has maintained a longstanding presence in Norway's musical life, often championing Norwegian music. Part of the choir's attraction is its stability and distinctiveness: as of the mid-2020s it had had only two conductors over its seven and a half decades of existence. The Norwegian Soloists' Choir has a substantial recording catalog, including mostly Norwegian music but extending to Bach and other international composers. In 2025 the group backed pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on a recording of Liszt's late Passion setting Via Crucis. Based in Oslo, the Norwegian Soloists' Choir (Norwegian: Det Norske Solistchor) was founded in 1950 under Norwegian Soloists Society auspices by conductor and organist Knut Nystedt, who was born in 1915 and had led a variety of choirs, including a trade union group, in the 1930s and 1940s. He remained conductor until 1990, when he was succeeded by Grete Pedersen. The choir at full strength contains 26 professional members, but it has also performed choral chamber music in smaller groupings. All its members have formal musical training and have professional backgrounds; they are hired by the choir on a freelance basis. Especially under Nystedt, the choir has been known for championing Norwegian composers, with a repertory of more than 70 Norwegian works. An early digital recording was Det Norske Solistkor sings Nystedt, Johansson, Schönberg, Brahms (1989). Under Nystedt the choir toured in Europe (France and Germany, the U.S., East and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, and, in 1982, China), and twice in Israel (in 1984 and 1988). Pedersen has broadened the choir's scope both musically and in terms of touring, with major tours in the U.S. and Canada, in Japan, and in Spain under historical-performance specialist Fabio Biondi. The choir has made many recordings, mostly for the Simax and Aurora labels at first. In 2007 it was signed to the Swedish label BIS and has issued releases that feature non-Norwegian music as well, including, in 2015, Meins Lebens Licht, which included music of Bach and of Knut Nystedt himself. An album of Bach motets followed in 2017. In 2018 the choir issued The Wind Blows: Music for Choir by Alfred Janson, on BIS. In 2023 the Norwegian Soloists' Choir released the recording Bent Sørensen: St. Matthew Passion, moving to Sony Classical in 2025 for a recording of Liszt's Via Crucis. ~ James Manheim