Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje (born 29 December 1973 in Trondheim, Norway) is a Norwegian

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. She plays on vocals and elektronics instruments.

Career

Ratkje studied composition at the

Norwegian Academy of Music The Norwegian Academy of Music (Norwegian: ''Norges musikkhøgskole'', NMH) is a university-level music conservatory located in Oslo, Norway, in the neighbourhood of Majorstuen, Frogner. It is the largest music academy in Norway and offers the ...

in Oslo under the tutorship of Lasse Thoresen, Olav Anton Thommessen and Asbjørn Schaathun, and got her diploma in 2000. During the summer of 1999, Ratkje studied at IRCAM and she has also studied individually with composers such as

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (24 October 1931 – 13 March 2025) was a Soviet and Russian composer of Modernism (music), modernist Holy minimalism, sacred music. She was highly prolific, producing numerous Chamber music, chamber, Orchestra, orch ...

, Ivar Frounberg,

Klaus Huber Klaus Huber (30 November 1924 – 2 October 2017) was a Swiss composer and academic based in Basel and Freiburg. Among his students were Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Jarrell, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, and Kaija Saaria ...

, Joji Yuasa and

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; 14 October 1952 – 2 June 2023) was a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the En ...

. She performs and releases music for concerts, recordings, films, installations, theatre, dance and other performances. Maja is a member of SPUNK, a Norwegian

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

group, and Agrare, a performance trio consisting of the noise duo Fe-mail and the Swedish dancer Lotta Melin. She has collaborated with, among others,

Jaap Blonk Jaap Blonk (born 1953, Woerden) is a Dutch avant-garde composer and performance artist. Blonk is primarily self-taught both as a sound artist and as a visual/stage performer. Jaap Blonkat Allmusic He studied physics, mathematics, and musicology ...

Lasse Marhaug Lasse Marhaug (born 10 September 1974) is a Norwegian musician who primarily works in the field of noise music but frequently drifts into other areas such as improvisation, jazz, rock and extreme metal. Marhaug has also been involved in creating ...

Joëlle Léandre Joëlle Léandre (born 12 September 1951) is a French double bassist, vocalist, and composer active in new music and free improvisation. In the field of contemporary music, she has performed with Pierre Boulez's Ensemble InterContemporain, and ...

Per Inge Bjørlo Per Inge Bjørlo (born 20 November 1952, in Ålesund) is a Norwegian sculptor, Painter (artist), painter, graphic designer and Visual arts, visual artist. He grew up in Spjelkavik outside Ålesund, and is now living in Hønefoss. He graduated from ...

Stian Westerhus Stian Westerhus (born 2 April 1979) is a Norwegian guitarist known for his experimental style, explored with keyboardist Øystein Moen in the bands Jaga Jazzist and Puma and with Sidsel Endresen, Nils Petter Molvær, Arve Henriksen, Jan Bang, a ...

, Kathy Hinde, Odd Johan Fritzøe, POING, HC Gilje,

Stephen O'Malley Stephen O'Malley (sometimes referred to as SOMA; born July 15, 1974) is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone metal, doom metal, and expe ...

Ikue Mori (born 17 December 1953), also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer. Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022. Biography Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She sa ...

, and

Zeena Parkins Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard har ...

. As a vocal soloist, Ratkje has performed with ensembles Engegårdkvartetten,

Trondheim Symphony Orchestra The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera ( Norwegian: ''Trondheim Symfoniorkester & Opera'') is a Norwegian orchestra based in Trondheim, Norway. Its principal concert venue is the Olavshallen. The orchestra is organised as a trust and receives ...

, The

Norwegian Radio Orchestra The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Norwegian, ''Kringkastingsorkestret'', abbreviated as KORK) is a radio orchestra affiliated with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (''Norsk rikskringkasting AS'', or NRK). Its principal base is the ''Store Studi ...

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional rad ...

, Ensemble InterContemporain and

Klangforum Wien The Klangforum Wien is an Austrian chamber orchestra, based in Vienna at the Konzerthaus, which specialises in contemporary classical music. Founded by composer and conductor Beat Furrer in 1985, it is run on collective principles, having no o ...

. In 2003 she also performed as a soloist at the

Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival ULTIMA Oslo Contemporary Music Festival is a Norwegian music festival for contemporary music. Background Ultima is Scandinavia's largest contemporary music festival, and since 1991 it has been a key arena for contemporary music and related art ...

premiere of her opera ''No Title Performance''. Ratkje's career as a composer spans from smaller chamber music works to opera, orchestral works, film-, dance and theatre music. Her works have seen performances by performers, ensembles and orchestras such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, Oslo Sinfonietta, Kringkastingsorkestret,

Arve Tellefsen Arve Tellefsen () (born 14 December 1936) is a Norwegian violinist who has worked with conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Arvid Jansons, Herbert Blomstedt, Gary Bertini, Evgeny Svetlanov, Bryden Thomson, Neeme Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, ...

, Vertavokvartetten,

Frode Haltli Frode Haltli (born 15 May 1975 in Levanger Municipality), is a Norwegian accordion player. Biography Haltli started to play the accordion at the age of seven and over the following few years he won several national competitions and scholarship ...

, Marianne Beate Kielland, Engegårdkvartetten and Cikada. Ratkje has twice been selected as the San Francisco-based Other Minds Festival's profile composer. Ratkje has also been composer in residence at festivals Trondheim Kammermusikkfestival, Nordland Musikkfestuke, Avanti! Summer Festival and at the

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (also known by the acronym HCMF, stylised since 2006 as the lowercase hcmf//) is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has featu ...

. Key works includes ''Gagaku Variations'' (accordion, string quartet), ''Crepuscular Hour'' (3 choirs, 6 noise musicians, organ, electronics), ''Concerto for Voice and Orchestra'', ''Essential Extensions'', ''Korall Koral'' (baby opera) and ''Sinus Seduction'' (sax, tape). 2001 saw Ratkje, as the first Norwegian composer, being bestowed with the

Arne Nordheim Arne Nordheim (20 June 1931 – 5 June 2010) was a Norwegian composer. Nordheim received numerous awards for his compositions, and from 1982 lived in the Norwegian government's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. ...

Composer's Prize. She is also a recipient of a number of domestic and international awards, including two Edvard Prizes and the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Rostrum Award as well as Award of Distinction with Jazkamer during the

Prix Ars Electronica The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria ...

for her solo album ''Voice'' in 2003. Ratkje has also served as a music critic for Norwegian weekly newspaper

Morgenbladet is Norway's oldest daily newspaper, covering politics, culture and science, now a weekly news magazine primarily directed at well-educated readers. The magazine is notable for its opinion section featuring contributions exclusively from Norweg ...

and has published a book via publishing house

Aschehoug H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), commonly known as Aschehoug,() is one of the largest independent publishing companies in Norway, founded in 1872. Headquartered in Oslo, the publishing house has 480 employees. The Aschehoug group also comprises o ...

: ''Stemmer.Eksperimentell Kvinneglam'' (). Ratkje is also an advocate for environmental issues, and is a member of climate action group ''Stopp oljesponsing av norsk kulturliv'' (translation: End Oil-sponsorship of Norwegian Arts), and refrains from accepting offers for performances or commissions supported by the oil industry. Ratkje is a great source of inspiration to new experimental Norwegian musicians like Natalie Sandtorv and Torgeir Standal in The Jist duo. In 2020 her work ''Asylos'' was included on the album ''The Beauty That Still Remains'' by the Norwegian Girls' Choir alongside the eponymous work by

Marcus Paus Marcus Nicolay Paus (; born 14 October 1979) is a Norwegian composer and one of the most performed contemporary Scandinavian composers. As a classical contemporary composer he is noted as a representative of a reorientation toward tradition, tonal ...

.Ola Nordal (26 March 2020),
Sepiatoner og sanglek
", ''Ballade'' In 2021, Ratkje was awarded the Lindeman Prize, one of Norway’s most prestigious music honors, in recognition of her outstanding work as a composer. That same year, she received an Honorary Mention at ZKM’s Giga-Hertz Awards for her digital work "Corona lockdown concert for TUSK Festival 2020." Her composition "Considering Icarus," premiered by Stephen Menotti and the SWR Symphonieorchester at Donaueschinger Musiktage, was nominated for the Music Composition Prize of the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation in 2024.

Honors

*1999:

Edvardprisen The Edvard Prize is a Norwegian music award in given by TONO, copyright organization for musicians and composers. The honor, which was given for the first time in 1998, is given each year and is only given to organization members. The goal is to e ...

in the category for contemporary music – smaller works for Waves II b *2001: Arne Nordheims Composer Prize *2001: second place in the International Competition of Electroacoustic Music Russolo in Paris for composers below 30 years of age *2003: Recipient of an Award of Distinction in the digital musics category at this year's

*2004: Edvardprisen in the open category for No Title Performance and Sparkling Water

Production

Selected works

Orchestral works

* ''Waves I'' (1997) * ''No Title Performance and Sparkling Water'', opera, premiered at the

(2003) * ''Concerto for Voice (moods III) '' (2004) * ''Engebøfjellet; Where were you when they cut me down from the gallows? '' «Deep brass orchestra and electric guitar», with Stephen O'Malley (2011) * ''Crepuscular Hour'' (2012) * ''ASYLOS'' (2013) * ''Tale of Lead and Frozen Light'' (2014) * ''Concerto for Voice (moods IIIc) '' (2015)

Chamber works

* ''Sinus Seduction (moods two) '' (1997) * ''River Mouth Echoes'' (2001) * ''Gagaku Variations'' (2001) * ''Du som fremmed'' (2001) * ''Rondo – Bastard – Overture – Explosion'' (2004) * ''ØX'' (2005) * ''Ro-Uro'' (2007) * ''Breaking the News'' (2010) * ''Tale of Lead and Light'' (2011) * ''Ein Häppchen noch'' (2011) * ''Softly as I leave you'' (2012) * '' "And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep" '' (2012) * ''Putin's Case'' (2012) * ''In Dialogue with Rudnik '' (2014) * ''Doppelgänger'' (2015) * ''Ekkokammer 2.0'' (2014–15)

Works for stage productions

* ''De Tenen van God'' (2004) * ''Adventura Anatomica'' (2005) * ''Carrying Our Ears and Eyes in Small Bags'' (2006) * ''Høyt oppe i fjellet'' (2011) * ''Larache'' (2011) * ''Adventura Botanica'' (2013) * ''Ekkokammer 2.0'' (2014–15) * ''Revelations (This Early Song)'' (2017)

Multimedia works, film music

* ''Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK'' (2001–12) * ''Wintergarden'' (2005) * ''Jazzgym'' (2008) * ''Breathe'' (2008) * ''Desibel'' (2009) * ''Dancing Cranes'' (2010)

Discography

Solo

*2002: ''Voice (Ratkje), Voice'' (

Rune Grammofon Rune Grammofon is a Norwegian record label founded in 1998 by Rune Kristoffersen. Rune Grammofon's reputation for lovingly issued experimental electronic music, jazz, and improvised music by Norwegian artists has grown over the years with its a ...

) *2006: ''Stalker (Maja Ratkje album), Stalker'' (Important Records) *2006: ''Adventura Anatomica'' (Semishigure) *2007: ''Teip'' (Ambolthue) *2008: ''River Mouth Echoes'' (

Tzadik Tzadik ( ''ṣaddīq'' , "righteous ne; also ''zadik'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadīqīm'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the word ...

) *2009: ''Cyborgic'' (The Last Record Company) *2010: ''Danse Macabre'' (Kassettkultur) *2013: ''Janus'' (Erratum), with Joachim Montessuis *2014: ''In Dialogue With Eugeniusz Rudnik'' (Bôłt) *2015: ''Celadon'' (Important Records), with Jon Wesseltoft, Camille Norment, Per Gisle Galåen *2016: ''Crepuscular Hour'' (

) *2019: ''Sult'' (

)

Collaborations

;With SPUNK *1999: ''Det Eneste Jeg Vet Er At Det Ikke Er En Støvsuger'' (

) *2001: ''Filtered By Friends'' (Remix album) (Rune Grammofon) *2002: ''Den Øverste Toppen På En Blåmalt Flaggstang'' (Rune Grammofon) *2005: ''En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom'' (Rune Grammofon) *2009: ''Kantarell'' (Rune Grammofon) ;With Fe-mail *2003: ''Syklubb fra Hælvete'', vinyl (TV5) *2004: ''Syklubb fra Hælvete'', CD (Important Records) *2004: ''All Men Are Pigs'' (Fe-mail and

) (Gameboy Records) *2005: ''Voluptuous Vultures'', vinyl (PsychForm Records) *2006: ''Northern Stains'' (Fe-mail & Carlos Giffoni) (Important Records) *2006: ''Voluptuous Vultures'', CD (PsychForm Records) *2006: ''Blixter Toad'' (Asphodel) ;Other collaborations *2006: ''Banquet For King Ludwig II Of Bavaria!'' (from the album The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast), with

Matmos Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo formed in San Francisco and based in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances no ...

*2011: ''Wach Auf!'' (Øra Fonogram), with Poing *2012: ''Treasure Hunt'' (TiConZero), with

, Simon Balestrazzi,

Sylvie Courvoisier Sylvie Courvoisier (born 30 November 1968) is a composer, pianist, improviser and bandleader. She was born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland, and has been a resident of New York City since 1998. She won Germany’s International Jazz Piano Pri ...

, Alessandro Olla *2013: ''Scrumptious Sabotage'' (Bocian Records), with Ikue Mori *2016: ''Drono'' - "Lakes" (LINE Imprint), with Derek Piotr ;Compilations *2009: ''Solveigs Lied'' (TIBProd), Maskinanlegg vs. Solveig Kjelstrup

References

External links

*
Maja S. K. Ratkje live at the Punkt festival 2013
on YouTube
List of works
supplied by the

National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway () was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened in 2005. Prior to the e ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratkje, Maja 1973 births Living people Musicians from Trondheim Avant-garde singers Norwegian composers Norwegian Academy of Music alumni Tzadik Records artists Rune Grammofon artists Norwegian women composers Norwegian women in electronic music International Rostrum of Composers prize-winners 21st-century Norwegian singers 21st-century Norwegian women singers