Photo © Jim Newman

Born December 29th, 1973 in Trondheim, Norway, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje finished composition studies at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo in 2000. Her music has been heard all over Europe as well as in Japan, China, Canada, USA and Eastern Russia. Her composed works have been performed by Oslo Sinfonietta, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Arve Tellefsen, Cikada and Vertavo string quartets, Quatuor Renoir, Ticom, crashEnsemble, Torben Snekkestad, SPUNK, Frode Haltli and POING among others. Ratkje has received many awards and commissions such as the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris for composers below 30 years of age, the Norwegian Edvard Prize (work of the year) twice, second prize at the Russolo Foundation, and in 2001 she was the first composer ever to receive the Arne Nordheim prize. Her solo album Voice, made in collaboration with Jazzkammer, earned a Distinction Award at Prix Ars Electronica in 2003. Ratkje is active as a vocalist and electronics player as well as studio engineer, mainly in connection
with the contemporary improvisation ensemble SPUNK and the noise duo Fe-mail, which together with dancer Lotta Melin forms the performance trio Agrare. Other main collaborators are Jazzkamer, POING, The Icelandic Dance Company, Odd Johan Fritzøe, Øyvind Berg and Jaap Blonk. Ratkje has performed her own music for films, dance and theatre performances, installations, and numerous other projects including her own opera in 2003 and her Concerto for Voice in 2005. www.ratkje.com