Lisa Ullén is a pianist and composer, born in Seoul, Korea, grew up in the north part of Sweden. Studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, with advanced jazz studies at Chapel Hill in North Carolina, USA, and studies at the Elektronmusikstudion EMS in Stockholm, 
She tours internationally, both solo and in several groups. Her music has been presented at several international festivals and on radio and television, and she has released over 30 albums under her own name/in close collaboration. 
In 2018 she received the P2 Jazz radio's award as composer of the year, and in 2019 her solo work Piano Works received the Manifest Prize in the Jazz category. In 2022 she was the guest of honor at the Umeå Jazz Festival. Her latest solo LP Heirloom 2024 (tFönstret) was praised in the international press and topped the lists in the Wire Magazine 2024,,New York City Jazz Records 2024, the Stereogum 2024
"This, then, is music about identity, but in its complexity...

Lisa Ullén is a pianist and composer, born in Seoul, Korea, grew up in the north part of Sweden. Studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, with advanced jazz studies at Chapel Hill in North Carolina, USA, and studies at the Elektronmusikstudion EMS in Stockholm, 
She tours internationally, both solo and in several groups. Her music has been presented at several international festivals and on radio and television, and she has released over 30 albums under her own name/in close collaboration. 
In 2018 she received the P2 Jazz radio's award as composer of the year, and in 2019 her solo work Piano Works received the Manifest Prize in the Jazz category. In 2022 she was the guest of honor at the Umeå Jazz Festival. Her latest solo LP Heirloom 2024 (tFönstret) was praised in the international press and topped the lists in the Wire Magazine 2024,,New York City Jazz Records 2024, the Stereogum 2024
"This, then, is music about identity, but in its complexity, its coincidences and its contradictions, changes and consistencies, it is surely one of the most honest and realistic musical depictions of human identity ever created." (A closer Listen Garrett Brooke)

Maya Bennardo (she/her) is an active performer and composer living in Stockholm, Sweden. Maya is interested in opening the dialogue and blurring the boundaries between composers and performers, and is devoted to performing music of the present. She is a founding member of the violin/viola duo andPlay, described by I Care If You Listen as “enthusiastic champions for new music and collaboration.” She performs new and traditional repertoire for violin and piano with pianist Karl Larson in their Bennardo-Larson Duo and has previously been a member of the internationally renowned Mivos Quartet along with working with ensembles such as Talea Ensemble, Ensemble Signal, Mise-En Ensemble, and International Contemporary Ensemble. She works closely with improvisers, Etienne Nillesen, Lisa Ullén, Erik Blennow-Calälv, and Kristofer Svensson.
http://www.mayabennardo.com

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To many of their followers’ big surprise, Stian Westerhus and Maja S. K. Ratkje, who are usually associated with effect pedals, samplers, amplifiers and computers at three digit decibel levels, put aside all things electric and performed an acoustic set at Oslo Jazz Festival in 2019.

Ratkje and Westerhus, now armed with a 19th century pump organ, fiddle, acoustic guitar, some metal scrap and their voices, have gradually composed, developed and expanded their new and unique repertoire, performing at concerts, for Norwegian national broadcasting (NRK), and are now releasing this album - All Losses Are Restored.

A Shakespearian wind hit the two as they were looking for inspiration moving on from their first live appearance in 2019. Would it make sense to combine their new musical expression with the mystical, brutal and flowery universe of William Shakespeare’s words? So many songs have already been made, so much music, from large staged works and inspired instrumental works to miniatures. A never-ending textual source. The task seemed both challenging and enticing.

All Losses Are Restored is an album consisting of six new songs (although Verona is previously recorded by Westerhus), all composed by Ratkje and Westerhus and with lyrics solely built upon Shakespeare’s body of work. Most obviously some of the Sonnets, such as number 30, which also contains the albums title. Other Sonnets used are number 73 (That time of year...), 137 (Though blind fool...) and 46 (Mine eye and heart...). Apart from these, a sidekick is given to no less that Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, with various contextualisations.

In the few occasions where Ratkje and Westerhus have performed live the response has been nothing short of overwhelming. Critics have used terms such as “One of the decidedly strongest musical moments of the year”!
Their musical expression give associations to both the old Kristiania in the 1890’s, as well as emigrated Norwegians in the Midwest – reciting Shakespeare whilst loading their guns underneath the table of the saloon!...

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