Frode Haltli

The sonic world crafted by Norwegian accordionist, composer, and improviser Frode Haltli occupies a constantly shifting space that bridges contemporary jazz, modern classical forms, and longstanding folk traditions. Norway’s Spellemannprisen recognized his ECM debut Looking on Darkness in 2002, after which he participated in well over one hundred additional recordings. Rather than blending inherited styles with newer textures, Haltli develops an independent idiom expressed through overlapping and contrasting shapes. Together with saxophonist Rolf-Erik Nystrøm and double bassist Håkon Thelin, he established the experimental group Poing in 1999 specifically to present new music; following their 2003 debut Giants of Jazz, the ensemble has sustained an active schedule of performances and releases. Passing Images, issued in 2007, examined folk sources through freshly written material, while the 2008 duo project Yeraz paired him with saxophonist and composer Trygve Seim. Two years later he appeared as one of two principal soloists on Arne Nordheim: Complete Accordion Works alongside the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. Vagabonde Blu, a live solo recording and his first Hubro title, surfaced in 2014, and Air followed on ECM in 2016 with the Trondheim Soloists and the Arditti Quartet. Extensive touring has taken him across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, where he has also collaborated with leading orchestras internationally. The 2018 Hubro album Avant Folk introduced an entirely new ensemble and achieved widespread streaming-chart success, after which Border Woods arrived in 2019 and the compilation Selected Solo Works, Vol. 1-3 appeared in 2020. Avant Folk II, released in 2021, received extensive critical praise.

Haltli first took up the accordion at seven. Although folk repertoire formed his initial focus, he soon explored classical literature and contemporary pieces by composers including Pietr Fiala, Per Nørgård, and Arne Nordheim. Formal studies began at the Norwegian State Academy of Music and continued at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. In 1999 he assembled the contemporary trio Poing with the same Nystrøm and Thelin; beyond six well-received albums, the group has garnered more than one hundred commissions from orchestras, chamber ensembles, and individual composers. The Norwegian Concert Institute named him Young Soloist of the Year in 2001.

Haltli joined the ECM roster and issued Looking on Darkness in 2002. European and American critics praised the adventurous interpretations of works by Bent Sørensen, Per Magnus Lindborg, Asbjørn Schaathun, Magnus Lindberg, and Maja Ratkje, whose “Gagaku Variations” he recorded with the Vertavo Quartet. That same year he formed the folk trio Rusk with singer Unni Løvlid and violinist Vegar Vårdal and released a self-titled debut; additional folk projects have included the Snowflake Trio with Irish flutist Nuala Kennedy and Vårdal. He also participated in saxophonist Trygve Seim’s large ensemble Sangam on its ECM debut The Source and Different Cikadas. Looking on Darkness earned the Spellemannprisen for best contemporary music album.

Poing delivered its first recording, the acclaimed Giants of Jazz, in 2003, while Sangam followed with its ECM self-titled debut the next year. Haltli continued solo and ensemble performances throughout Europe. Poing’s second album Planet Poing appeared in 2005, succeeded by Rusk II in 2006. Passing Images, released on ECM the following year, earned international acclaim; the quartet featured trumpeter and electronicist Arve Henriksen, vocalist and composer Maja S.K. Ratkje, and violist Garth Knox and presented six original Haltli pieces, a collective improvisation, a fresh arrangement of Ratkje’s title track, and the traditional “Jag Haver Ingen Kärare.” Haltli also contributed to Mats Eilertsen’s Short Stories in 2007. The duo album Yeraz with Seim emerged on ECM in 2008, juxtaposing original Seim works with pieces by G.I. Gurdjieff, Bob Marley, and the Armenian folk title song. That year Poing further collaborated with Ratkje on her Tzadik debut River Mouth Echoes. Between 2008 and 2011 he maintained an intensive touring schedule across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and especially Russia, where audiences responded strongly enough to allow festival headlining. In 2011 Poing supported Ratkje on Wach Auf for Øra Fonogram. Haltli joined the faculty of the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and conducted master classes across Europe.

SIMIX Classics issued Arne Nordheim: Complete Accordion Works in 2012, encompassing four pieces composed between 1968 and 1986: the solo “Flashing,” “Dinosauros” for accordion and tape, the suite “Signals for Accordion, Electric Guitar and Percussion” with guitarist Raoul Björkenheim and percussionist Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen, and “Spur” performed with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under Christian Eggen. The recording received widespread critical acclaim. Vagabonde Blu appeared on Hubro in 2014; recorded alone inside the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum, it contained classical selections by Salvatore Sciarrino, Aldo Clementi, and Nordheim.

In 2016 Haltli joined Seim’s studio quartet for Rumi Songs and, under his own name, released Air on ECM’s New Series imprint, interpreting compositions by Bent Sørensen and Hans Abrahamsen with the Trondheim Soloists and the Arditti Quartet. Poing and Ratkje issued Kapital & Moral on Grappa and Sur POING on Aurora. That year he also recorded the improvised collaboration StaiStua with bassist Sigurd Hole and pianist Andreas Ulvo.

Despite relentless touring, Haltli stepped down from his teaching position in 2017. He still found time to record Stakkars Oslo with Poing for Crispin Glover Records, joined by electronicist Lasse Marhaug and guitarist Lars Lillo-Stenberg. Later the same year he realized the formation of the large ensemble Avant Folk, which refracts traditional and contemporary folk materials through improvisation, electronics, and jazz. Their self-titled Hubro debut, produced and mixed by Ratkje, arrived in 2018 and featured Poing colleagues plus guitarists Juhani Silvola and Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir, violinist Hans Pålsen Kjorstad, Ståle Storløkken on harmonium and synthesizers, drummer and vocalist Siv Øyunn Kjenstad, double bassist Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson, Hardanger fiddler Erlend Apneseth, and trumpeter and vocalist Hildegunn Øiseth doubling on goat horn. Framed by original Haltli pieces rooted in tradition yet not strictly bound by it, the album also included “Trio,” drawn from two Norwegian folk songs, the Finnskogen waltz “Gråtar’n,” and “Kingo,” based on a Faroese hymn. Haltli further appeared that year on Im Treibhaus with the Håkon Kornstad Trio and on the single “Wild Is the Will” with Bonnie “Prince” Billy.

Border Woods surfaced on Hubro in 2019, presenting six original compositions performed by a quartet that included two percussionists and Emilia Amper on nyckelharpa and engineered by Jan Erik Konshaug. Haltli also served as featured co-billed soloist with the Erlend Apneseth Trio on Salika, Molik, worked with Snowflake Trio on Sun Dogs, and contributed to Norwegian fiddler Ragnhild Furebotten’s Klopper alongside Amper on nyckelharpa, while appearing at numerous international festivals. During the COVID-19 pandemic he compiled and issued the triple digital album Selected Solo Works, Vol. 1-3 on his Svartskog Music Production label, interpreting works by Ratkje, Edison Denisov, James Dillon, Leif Kayser, Rolf Wallin, Ørjan Matre, Robert H.P. Platz, and Magnar Åm. He also released the lockdown single and video “Quarantine Quilt” with Avant Folk, followed by the digital track “St. Morten” featuring Hardanger violinist and vocalist Helga Myhr. Avant Folk II, containing four pieces commissioned in 2019 by Vossa Jazz, appeared in February 2021.