A child of musical parents, Mari first picked up a violin at the tender age of three. For ten years she was taught by world renowned Norwegian violinist Arve Tellefsen. She then went to Stephan Barratt Due and later with some of the world's most distinguished violin teachers at prestigious music academies and conservatories In addition to her steady tutoring, she has received masterclasses from Ana Chumachenco, Midori, Ivry Gitlis, Donald Weilerstein, Pamela Frank and Robert Mann.
Mari Samuelsen has ties to Norway's prestigious and prominent Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, and is currently finishing her second master's degree at Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland, where she is studying under the legendary Professor Zakhar Bron.

As a solo performer, Mari has played with some of the world's best orchestras and at the most important venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Tonhalle in Zurich, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo, Wolf Trap Center near Washington DC, Kremlin and Tschaikowsky Hall in Moscow on invitation from the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation.

She is an active chambermusician and is often to be seen in major festival programs like; Oslo Chamber music festival, Bergen Int. festival, Stavanger festival, Bad Kissingen, Radio France festival, Seiji Ozawa Academy, Septembre Musical (Montreux) and Verbier Festival&Academy where she works with international musicians such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Elena Bashkirova, Truls Mørk, Gary Hoffman, Nicolas Altstaedt, Joshua Bell, Nikolaj Znaider, Julian Rachlin, Antoine Tamestit, Mayuko Kamio, Measha Brueggergosman, Thomas Quasthoff and conductors like Seiji Ozawa, David Zinman and Sir Simon Rattle.

Mari Samuelsen has received several prizes including three Norwegian cultural honour-prizes. She has also got many national and international scholarships, and is winner of the Crecendo prize, 2009 from the Meister Foundation, Switzerland.
Together with her brother, Mari Samuelsen has received a major prize from Tom Wilhelmsen Foundation, to commission a new double concerto by one of the leading composers in the world.

Mari Samuelsen plays a fine G. B. Guadagnini (Turin 1773) generously on loan from Anders Sveaas charitable foundation, Oslo, and a Dominique Peccatte bow on loan from Sparebanken Hedmark.