Maja Ratkje Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Maja Ratkje
Sound
Biography
Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, composer and performer (born Dec. 29th 1973 in Trondheim, Norway), finished composition studies at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo in 2000. Her music is performed worldwide by performers such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Oslo Sinfonietta, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and many more. Ratkje has received awards 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 Norwegian Arne Nordheim prize. Her solo album Voice, made in collaboration with Jazzkammer, got a Distinction Award at Prix Ars Electronica in 2003. In 2013 she was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize for her vocal work. Ratkje is active as a singer/voice user and electronics performer and engineer, as a soloist or in groups such as SPUNK and BRAK RUG. She has been soloist with orchestras such as The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, and many more. Ratkje has performed her own music for films, dance and theatre, installations, and numerous other projects.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Titina
Italian airship engineer Umberto Nobile enjoys a quiet life with his beloved dog Titina. One day, Norwegian explorer superstar Roald Amundsen contacts him and orders an airship to conquer The North Pole.
Nor Noise
Nor Noise is the first norwegian documentary about noise music. Movie Maker Tom Hovinbøle has from the start in 2001 interviewed a number of artists in the noise genre. The artists relay their thoughts on the phenomenon of noise music - what is it, where does it come from, what is the trade off when replacing traditional harmony and melody for pure audio experience, which possibilities can be explored? The movie explains the historical context of the genre, from the movement of Futurism and Luigi Russolo from before WWI to electronic experiments in the fifties, avantgarde in the sixties, industry and punk in the seventies to the final establishment of the noise genre at the end of the seventies in Japan. Adding to the flavour are concert performances.
Maja S.K. Ratkje- And Sing ...Oslo Sinfonietta, Maja S.K. Ratkje & Cikada
This album interleaves the composer’s own voice as a performer with the ensemble sound of CIKADA and Oslo Sinfonietta. In “And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep” the voice is pre-recorded, and the sound files are played through loudspeakers placed among the musicians. In Concerto for Voice (moods IIIb) the composer is performing live a solo part for amplified voice, using much wider dynamics and improvisation. While performing has influenced and inspired Maja S. K. Ratkje’s composing, the opposite is also true – even though it’s too simple to say that she improvises like a composer and composes like an improvising musician: “The process of composition is primarily about mastering form and contextualising elements – both the actual sounds and the formal units – musically,” she says.
Production
Pyromaniac
In the darkness of a peaceful village, a pyromaniac ignites his first fire. As more fires break out, the society panics. An inferno lurks under the surface as a local policeman uncovers the unthinkable truth...
Water
The film is a visual sound poem, a political investigation into human-ocean relationship. Tjaetsie means water in South Sámi language. The film takes us to the inhabitants both in and around the sea, a journey through vulnerability and hybris. With human-affected time as our backdrop, the mythical figurine "Gorrijh gujne" (Spawning Lady), of the Froan sea represents the ancient forces of Ocean.
Water
The film is a visual sound poem, a political investigation into human-ocean relationship. Tjaetsie means water in South Sámi language. The film takes us to the inhabitants both in and around the sea, a journey through vulnerability and hybris. With human-affected time as our backdrop, the mythical figurine "Gorrijh gujne" (Spawning Lady), of the Froan sea represents the ancient forces of Ocean.
Maja S.K. Ratkje- And Sing ...Oslo Sinfonietta, Maja S.K. Ratkje & Cikada
This album interleaves the composer’s own voice as a performer with the ensemble sound of CIKADA and Oslo Sinfonietta. In “And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep” the voice is pre-recorded, and the sound files are played through loudspeakers placed among the musicians. In Concerto for Voice (moods IIIb) the composer is performing live a solo part for amplified voice, using much wider dynamics and improvisation. While performing has influenced and inspired Maja S. K. Ratkje’s composing, the opposite is also true – even though it’s too simple to say that she improvises like a composer and composes like an improvising musician: “The process of composition is primarily about mastering form and contextualising elements – both the actual sounds and the formal units – musically,” she says.
Gallery
