Marianne Mellnäs

Swedish soprano vocalist from Gothenburg, born June 17, 1934, died August 7, 2024.

She received her first singing training in her hometown of Gothenburg. At the Academy of Music in Stockholm, she studied singing with Ragnar Hulthén and further at the Academy of Music in Berlin. Marianne Mellnäs was a frequently engaged soloist in masses and oratorios, as well as her own concerts.

Mellnäs was a versatile singer with both classical and contemporary music as well as jazz in her repertoire. For many years she was a member of the Radio Choir, where she often performed as a soloist.

During the years 1958–76, Marianne was married to the composer Arne Mellnäs, who wrote several works directly for her, including Omnia tempus habent with text from Predikaren, which she premiered in Visby Cathedral in 1972.

Marianne Mellnäs collaborated and premiered several of the organist and composer Torsten Nilsson's works together with Oscars Motettkör in the Oscar church in Stockholm, which are documented on several recordings.

In 1981 she recorded an LP entitled Egensinnigt together with the organist Björn Stoltz with music by Bizet, Rachmaninov, Honegger, Purcell, Saint-Saëns, Debussy and Arne Mellnäs and then Isolde's Liebestod (arranged by Björn Stoltz.)

She also recorded a disc with Visby Storband with songs like "Heaven" and "Three Letter Word" from Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts.

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