At the first Frontside festival in 2019, the Norwegian composer and performance artist Maja S. K. Ratkje had the opportunity to showcase many of her extensive talents. At the heart of Maja’s music is her own voice, an open door to her personal musical expression and a constant tool for bringing her compositions in tune with natural expressions and human truths.
Maja brought her family to Gothenburg and performed folk music from Akershus together with her husband Frode Haltli (a well-renowned accordion player) and their two daughters Marte Ingeborg (then 9 years old) and Frida Helen (then 11 years old). Her husband also performed Maja’s composition “Passing Images” on his accordion.
A film and music piece “Tjaetsie/Water” created by Maja S. K. Ratkje together with filmmaker Sissel M Bergh in 2017 had a prominent place in a wandering concert inside the Röda Stens Konsthall. The film takes us underwater, to the inhabitants of Trondheimsfjorden and Frohavet, and to the surrounding residents. It is a visual and auditory poem – a collage of the here and now and the past. A plea to the mythical Gurrie Kunja, protector of Frohavet: – Birredh, birredh dallah! (Southern Sami dialect which can be translated to Come, come as fast as you can!)
At the festival, Ludwig van Beethoven’s well-known string quartet opus 59 no. 1 was dedicated its own concert on Sunday. Maja S. K. Ratkje refers to Beethoven’s quartet in her own string quartet “Tale of Lead and Light,” which was performed on Saturday by the Asasello Quartet, who also played Beethoven. She wrote the piece in 2011, in the midst of the dreadful time when Norway was hit by both the bombing in Oslo and the massacre on Utøya. Maja writes that the title in her work describes both hope and fear and that “Beethoven’s light shines through, strong and full of life!”
Frontside has existed since 2019 and is largely driven by volunteer efforts, but we are highly dependent on additional financial sponsors and fundings. All contributions are used to engage fantastic musicians, rents of venues and all other things that make the festival a magical experience.
Welcome as a member of the Frontside Chamber Music Association.
As a member, you will continuously receive our newsletters and advance information about tickets.
If you wish to donate some extra money, it would be greatly appreciated! You will then belong to our Tone-donating members and will continuously receive our newsletters and advance information about tickets, as well as be offered a glass of sparkling wine in a unique meeting with our artists during the festival days.
If you wish to sponsor the festival with larger amounts, we are extremely grateful. You will continuously receive our newsletters and advance information about tickets, as well as be offered a glass of sparkling wine in a unique meeting with our artists during the festival days, and your name will be published (upon agreement) on our website.
Our membership register contains information about names and addresses, in some cases also phone numbers and/or email addresses. The register is used only for sending out membership information. The association will not sell or otherwise share personal information with any other party. Upon leaving the association, the information will be deleted and will only remain in the records that we are required to keep for seven years according to accounting laws. For further information or if you wish to be removed from the register, please contact our treasurer, Catrin Bernsro: catrin@bernsro.se
