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Kaija Saariaho (born October 14, 1952) is a Finnish composer.

Kaija Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her studies and research at IRCAM have had a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures are often created by combining live music and electronics. Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works, from the mid-nineties she has turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures, such as the operas L’amour de loin, premiered at the 2000 Salzburg Festival (with a US premiere at the Santa Fe Opera in 2002), and Oltra mar, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. Her second opera Adriana Mater was commissioned for the Opéra National de Paris’ 2006 season.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Career highlights 2 Key works 3 Selected recordings 4 External links

Saariaho was born in Helsinki and studied music at the Sibelius Academy there. She later studied in Freiburg (under Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber) and at IRCAM in Paris. Her work in the 1980s and 1990s is marked by its emphasis on timbre and use of electronics alongside traditional instruments; Nymphéa (Jardin secret III) (1987), for example, is for string quartet and live electronics. In the late 1990s she began to eschew electronics and focus increasingly on melody.

She has won the Prix Italia and, in 1989, the Prix Ars Electronica; received commissions from Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Intercontemporain; and has been the subject of a pan-European collaborative project to produce a CD-ROM Prisma about her work.

In 2000 she won the Nordic Council Music Prize for the work Lonh for soprano and electronics.

• 1976-81 - studied composition with Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki
• 1982 - attended courses in computer music at IRCAM, Paris and took up residence there
• 1986 - awarded Kranichsteiner Prize at Darmstadt
• 1989 - awarded Ars Electronica Prize for Stilleben and Io; one year residency at the University of San Diego
• 1991 - composition of ballet music Maa, premiered by Finnish National Ballet
• 2003 - awarded the Grawemeyer Award for L’amour de loin

• Nymphéa (1987; string quartet, electronics)
• Petals (1988; cello, electronics)
• Du cristal (1989; orchestra, live electronics)
• Graal théâtre (1994; violin, orchestra)
• L’amour de loin (2000; opera)
• Orion (2002; orchestra)

• Graal Théâtre - Gidon Kremer; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen - Sony SK60817
• L’Amour de loin - Gerald Finley; Dawn Upshaw; Finnish National Opera; Esa-Pekka Salonen - Deutsche Grammophon DVD 00440 073 40264
• Nymphéa - Cikada String Quartet - ECM New Series 472 4222

• Kaija Saariaho's homepage
• Chester Music Composer's homepage
• CompositionToday - Saariaho article and review of works
• Sanna Iitti , “Kaija Saariaho: Stylistic Development and Artistic Principles” International Alliance for Women in Music Journal, 2001

Preceded by Kronos Quartet

Schock Prize in Musical Arts 2001

Succeeded by Anne Sofie von Otter