Lislevand was born on December 30, 1961, in Oslo, Norway. He studied music and guitar at the Norway Academy of Music from 1980 until 1984. Further training came over the next three years at the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where he studied with lutenist Hopkinson Smith (a co-founder of Hespèrion XX) and Eugen Dombois. Lislevand had begun playing with Hespèrion XX by 1987, the year he relocated to Verona and began to study 17th century Italian music. Of the many recordings Lislevand made with Savall's groups, the 1993 Astree album España: Anthology of Spanish Music was among the more popular and critically acclaimed efforts.
In 1993, Lislevand joined the faculty of the Staatliche Hochschule in Trossingen, Germany, a post he still held in 2021. In the late '90s, Lislevand founded the Ensemble Kapsberger, dedicating the ensemble to the music of the Italian Baroque: his son, gambist André Lislevand, has been a member of Ensemble Kapsberger since 2010. Rolf's 2006 album Nuove Musiche, on ECM, achieved great success, both with critics and the public. Because of its success and Lislevand's growing popularity in the U.S., he was invited to appear on the American broadcast network National Public Radio, where he elaborated eloquently on his still-controversial approach toward Baroque music performance. Lislevand continues to appear regularly both as a soloist and as chamber player with Ensemble Kapsberger. La Mascarade (2016) was his first solo recording for the ECM label. In 2020, Lislevand joined Philippe Pierlot, Lucile Boulanger, and Myriam Rignol on the Mirare album Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe et ses filles. ~ Robert Cummings & Keith Finke, Rovi