Benedicte E. Torget

Benedicte Torget entered the Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) Girls’ Choir at the age of six. Singing children's songs and compositions by Zoltán Kodály, Fartein Valen, Knut Nystedt, among others, was for her like entering an invisible bell of sound and light. Her father, an amateur jazz pianist, accompanied her at local performances.

Educated in vocal jazz at Østlandets Music Conservatory and the University of Oslo, she has also drawn inspiration from various singing traditions, including 17th-century music, extended vocal techniques, and folk music. For three decades, she has been singing and composing music for theatre, film, and her own ensembles.

Benedicte has practiced meditation according to Shunryu Suzuki's method for over 25 years. Her experiences from seven years in full psychoanalysis, seeking a language beyond rational consciousness, form a basis for her work.

Benedicte has released four albums on her label, Present Recordings. The album Karin Boye Songs, a collaboration with composer Øystein Sevåg, won the NOPA Music Prize in 2014.

Her music, composed to the lyrics of Norwegian post-war poet Astrid Tollefsen, will be released in autumn 2025, recorded by her new trio with internationally acclaimed musicians Arve Henriksen and Helge Lien.

Benedicte has performed in various venues across Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Ukraine.

She is currently the recipient of a three-year grant from the Norwegian Cultural Department as a singer.