Kaija Saariaho

The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (born 1952) has lived and worked in Paris since 1982. She studied composition under Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy and later at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber, receiving her diploma there in 1983. In 1982 she attended courses in computer music at IRCAM in Paris, since when the computer has been an important element of her composing technique.

In 1986 she was awarded the Kranichsteiner Preis at the new music summer courses in Darmstadt, and in 1988 the Prix Italia, for her work Stilleben. In 1989 Stilleben and Io were awarded the Ars Electronica Prize. More recently, in 2000 she received both the Nordic Music Prize (for Lonh) and the Stoeger Award of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (in recognition of outstanding services to chamber music). In 2001 Kaija Saariaho was awarded with the Rolf Schock Prize (Sweden) and the Kaske Prize (Germany).

She achieved international recognition with works that include Verblendungen (orchestra and tape, 1982-84), Lichtbogen for chamber ensemble and electronics (1985-96), Nymphéa (1987) for string quartet and electronics, a commission from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet, and two linked orchestral works Du Cristal and ...à la fumée premiered in 1990 and 1991 both in Helsinki and Los Angeles. Saariaho has also taken part in a number of multimedia productions such as the full-length ballet Maa (1991) and a pan-European collaborative project to produce a CD-ROM Prisma about her life and work.

More recent works include a violin concerto, Graal Théâtre, for Gidon Kremer premiered at the 1995 BBC Proms and two pieces for Dawn Upshaw: an orchestral song cycle, Château de l'âme, premiered at the 1996 Salzburg Festival, and a solo song cycle Lonh for soprano and electronics, premiered at the 1996 Wien Modern Festival. In 1999 Saariaho completed a major work for chorus and orchestra, Oltra mar, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic and Kurt Masur on 11th November 1999, as part of their millennium series of commissions.

Saariaho's first opera, L'amour de loin was awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for music 2003. A co-commission from the Salzburg Festival and Théâtre du Châtelet, L'amour de loin is based on "La Vida breve" of Jaufre Rudel, Prince of Blaye, one of the first great troubadours of the 12th century. The libretto has been written by the French-Lebanese author Amin Maalouf. L'amour de loin was premiered on 15th August 2000 at the Salzburg Festival, directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Kent Nagano. The production has been staged at the Théâtre du Châtelet and Santa Fe Opera and in 2001 a new production was presented at Stadttheater Bern. The German premiere will be given at the Staatstheater Darmstadt in April 2003 and the Finnish premiere later in 2004.

Following La'amour de loin opera Kaija Saariaho wrote a flute concerto for Camilla Hoitenga: Aile du Songe (2001) has been performed eight times since its premiere in autumn 2001 and has been released on naïve with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Similarly successful is her string orchestra work Nymphea Reflections (2001) which is dedicated to Christoph Eschenbach. In January 2003 The Cleveland Orchestra premiered her new orchestral work Orion with Franz Welser-Möst. The orchestra will tour the work to Vienna in October 2003. In April 2003 Karita Mattila and Tuija Hakkila will give the world premiere of Saariaho's Quatre Instants for soprano and piano. In August 2003 the world premiere of the orchestral version of Quatre Instants will be given at the Tammisaari Festival and the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

Saariaho's music is available on the Finlandia, Ondine, SONY, Wergo, Neuma, BIS and naïve record labels and is published exclusively by Chester Music Ltd and Edition Wilhelm Hansen. (February 2003)