Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho was a composer of great integrity and skill whose music reached a global audience. She studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and in Paris, where she lived from 1982. Her Finnish background and research at IRCAM were a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures were often created by combining live music and electronics.

With an impressive catalogue of chamber music, often created in collaboration with trusted performers with whom she fostered long-term collaborations, from the mid-nineties she turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures: the operas L’Amour de loin (2000) and Adriana Mater (2005) were both commissioned by Gerard Mortier for Salzburg Festival and Opera de Paris respectively, and created with librettist Amin Maalouf and director Peter Sellars, with whom she also crafted the oratorio La Passion de Simone (2006), based on the life and writings of philosopher-activist Simone Weil; the monodrama Émilie (2009), about 18th-century scientist and writer Émilie du Châtelet, written for Karita Mattila and Lyon Opera directed by Francois Girard brought about a fourth collaboration with Maalouf; Only the Sound Remains (2015) explores Japanese Noh plays in the adaption of poet Ezra Pound, directed by Peter Sellars.

Her latest opera Innocence (2018), commissioned by friend and collaborator Pierre Audi and directed by Simon Stone for the Aix-en-Provence Festival, was created in collaboration with librettist Solfi Oksanen and dramaturg and translator Aleksi Barrière. Innocence is partnered by Finnish National Opera, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Dutch National Opera and San Francisco Opera, and continues to be celebrated around the world.

Other stage works include the ballet Maa (1991) created with choreographer Carolyn Carlson, and Study for Life (1981), her very first stage work, revised and recreated some 40 years after its original premiere by La Chambre aux échos at the Finnish National Opera in 2022.

Vocal music was always a focal point of her creative space and Saariaho composed several works in this vein for the concert hall such as the ravishing Château de l’âme (1996), Oltra mar for chorus and orchestra celebrating the Millennium with New York Philharmonic (1999), Quatre instants for Karita Mattila (2002), True Fire for Gerald Finley (2014); Leino Songs (2017) and Saarikoski Songs (2020) for Anu Komsi. Her most theatrical vocal works, From the Grammar of Dreams (1988), Lonh (1996), and The Tempest Songbook (1993-2014) have also been presented in staged productions. 

Saariaho’s catalogue includes many concerti; Aile du songe (2001) and Notes on Light (2006) for lifelong friends – the flautist Camilla Hoitenga and cellist Anssi Karttunen; D'OM LE VRAI SENS (2010) for clarinettist Kari Krikku; Maan varjot (2013) for organist Olivier Latry; Trans (2015) for harpist Xavier de Maistre; and her last work HUSH (2023) for Finnish jazz trumpet player Verneri Pohjola, a companion piece for her first, the violin concerto Graal Théâtre (1994). 
A master of orchestration and structure Saariaho’s orchestral catalogue provides rich and rewarding music. From the early Du cristal (1989) and Verblendungen (1984) via Orion (2002), Laterna Magica (2008) and Circle Map (2011) to the most recent work Vista (2019) Saariaho's music delights and challenges the ear with sparkling textures and often inventive use of sound design and electronics. Her music is championed by conductors the world over among them Susanna Mälkki, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Storgårds, Dalia Stasevska, Ernest Izquierdo-Martinez, and recently her daughter Aliisa Neige Barrière.

Saariaho claimed major composing awards such as the Grawemeyer Award, the Nemmers Prize, the Sonning Prize and the Polar Music Prize and two of her recordings have received Grammy Awards. She was named ‘Greatest Living Composer’ in a survey of her peers conducted by the BBC Music Magazine in 2019.

Kaija Saariaho’s life was prematurely interrupted by a brain tumor in 2023. Her musical legacy is carried forward by a broad network of collaborators with whom she has worked closely over the years, and her publisher Chester Music Ltd.

The music of Kaija Saariaho is published exclusively by Chester Music and Edition Wilhelm Hansen, part of Wise Music Group.

Additional Resources:

Repertory of Saariaho interviews and documentaries.

Repertory of available video recordings of Saariaho works.

Repertory of available audio recordings of Saariaho works.

The archive of Kaija Saariaho’s work/music is housed at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel, Switzerland. Please turn to them with research requests. 

Click here to read a personal account about the flute music of Kaija Saariaho written by celebrated flutist Camilla Hoitenga

Tune in to Kaija Saariaho’s official Facebook page for regular updates and resources.

Kaija Saariaho on WQXR's Meet the Composer