  The identification of bright quasars at z>6 enables detailed studies of
supermassive black holes, massive galaxies, structure formation, and the state
of the intergalactic medium within the first billion years after the Big Bang.
We present the spectroscopic confirmation of 55 quasars at redshifts 5.6<z<6.5
and UV magnitudes -24.5<M1450<-28.5 identified in the optical Pan-STARRS1 and
near-IR VIKING surveys (48 and 7, respectively). Five of these quasars have
been independently discovered in other studies. The quasar sample shows an
extensive range of physical properties, including 17 objects with weak emission
lines, ten broad absorption line quasars, and five with strong radio emission
(radio-loud quasars). There are also a few notable sources in the sample,
including a blazar candidate at z=6.23, a likely gravitationally lensed quasar
at z=6.41, and a z=5.84 quasar in the outskirts of the nearby (D~3 Mpc) spiral
galaxy M81. The blazar candidate remains undetected in NOEMA observations of
the [CII] and underlying emission, implying a star-formation rate <30-70
Msun/yr. A significant fraction of the quasars presented here lies at the
foundation of the first measurement of the z~6 quasar luminosity function from
Pan-STARRS1 (introduced in a companion paper). The quasars presented here will
enable further studies of the high-redshift quasar population with current and
future facilities.
