Between strings and summits: Elja with Benedicte Maurseth & Kronos Quartet

Imagine a musical score populated by animals of all kinds. The fiddle takes her bow, scrapes gently across a string threaded with a slender knitting needle – and there you have a frog. The cello slides in a low glissando, and we hear the haunting call of the Black-throated Loon. Growling wolverines, foxes, cranes, and hooting owls emerge. The mountain plateau—the vidda—stirs to life.

Hardangervidda, Europe's largest mountain plateau, is one of the rare places where southern and arctic species cross paths, where ecosystems and traditions intertwine. For Norwegians, this area symbolises wilderness, resilience, and deep-rooted connection. Its nature, myths, and rhythms have long drawn artists in.

Kronos Quartet felt this pull when they first encountered the music of Hardanger fiddle player Benedicte Maurseth, leading them to commission Maurseth and composer Kristine Tjøgersen to write Elja – a new work for a set of Hardanger instruments specially crafted by fiddle-maker Ottar Kåsa.

Elja embraces the resonating strings, alternate tunings, and enveloping sound of these unique instruments. Framed by Evelina Dembacke’s visuals, the stage is transformed into a living environment, teeming with creatures and untamed nature.

Maurseth and Tjøgersen are part of a new generation of Norwegian composers deeply committed to the environment, place, and perception. Their collaboration on Elja brings tradition and innovation into dialogue with Hardangervidda’s fragile ecosystems, highlighting how climate change impacts this unique high-mountain area.

Elja was commissioned in context of Kronos Quartet’s 50th anniversary, marking five decades of adventurous music-making. Alongside Maurseth and Tjøgersen, they offer the Norwegian, traditional folk music a new, forward-looking expression, giving audiences a rare opportunity to experience transformation in real time.

Get ready for the Norwegian premiere of Elja at Riksscenen as part of the Ultima Festival on 18 September 2025!

Pre-sale tickets available

The whole programme for the Ultima Festival is out on 1 June.