Maja Ratkje

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

She plays on vocals and elektronics instruments.

During the summer of 1999, Ratkje studied at IRCAM and she has also studied individually with composers such as Louis Andriessen, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ivar Frounberg, Klaus Huber, Joji Yuasa and Kaija Saariaho.

She performs and releases music for concerts, recordings, films, installations, theatre, dance and other performances.

Maja is a member of SPUNK, a Norwegian improv 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, Lasse Marhaug, Joëlle Léandre, Per Inge Bjørlo, Stian Westerhus, Kathy Hinde, Odd Johan Fritzøe, POING, HC Gilje, Stephen O'Malley, Ikue Mori, and Zeena Parkins.

As a vocal soloist, Ratkje has performed with ensembles Engegårdkvartetten, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble InterContemporain and Klangforum Wien.

Ratkje studied composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo under the tutorship of Lasse Thoresen, Olav Anton Thommessen and Asbjørn Schaathun, and got her diploma in 2000.

2001 saw Ratkje, as the first Norwegian composer, being bestowed with the Arne Nordheim Composer's Prize.

In 2003 she also performed as a soloist at the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival 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, Vertavokvartetten, Frode Haltli, 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.

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).

She is also a recipient of a number of domestic and international awards, including two Edvard Prizes and the UNESCO Rostrum Award as well as Award of Distinction with Jazkamer during the Prix Ars Electronica for her solo album Voice in 2003.

Ratkje has also served as a music critic for Norwegian weekly newspaper Morgenbladet and has published a book via publishing house Aschehoug: Stemmer.Eksperimentell Kvinneglam (ISBN 9788203356797).

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.