Clarinetist Marianne Gythfeldt, a native of Norway and Scotland, has distinguished herself in chamber music, orchestral and contemporary music performance on the international stage. Her formative years were split between Oslo, marching in street parades; Paris, studying electro-acoustic music at IRCAM; and Morristown, New Jersey, performing in All-State bands and orchestras. She went on to receive Masters and Bachelors degrees at the Eastman School and SUNY at Stony Brook under the tutelage of Stanley Hasty and Charles Neidich. As a resident of New York City, Marianne quickly became absorbed in its exciting musical life. She is an original member of the Naumburg award-winning New Millennium Ensemble, and is the clarinetist of Ensemble Sospeso, Zephyros Winds, and Kristjan Jarvi’s Absolute. She plays principal clarinet with the New Haven Symphony, and makes guest appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Marianne is now considered one of the most advanced performers of new music in the States. She seeks out and creates projects that have an unflinching commitment to exploring new territory. One such project resulted in the premiere recordings of three of Morton Feldman’s ensemble works on Koch Records, with Marianne as project director and fund-raiser. Ms. Gythfeldt has premiered many works that were written for her, and she is often invited to perform as a soloist on special occasions such as the June in Buffalo Festival, in the “Making Music” series at Carnegie Hall, and at the Chamber Music Northwest and Tanglewood summer series, where she performed the dramatic Suite for Clarinets, Strings and Piano by Schoenberg with Peter Serkin. In August, Marianne made a solo appearance with the Zephyros Winds at the Mostly Mozart Festival, performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante.

Ms. Gythfeldt has recorded on CRI, Koch, and Mode CD labels. Her solo recordings of Robert Morris’ music is about to be released on Albany records.

Ms. Gythfeldt is on the faculty at William Paterson University, the Village Community School and the Chamber Music Conference of the East, where she teaches clarinet and chamber music. She currently lives on the upper eastside with her husband, professor of biophysics at the College of Staten Island, and daughter Maude.