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Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

for the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

and from

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...

for the

Ensemble Intercontemporain The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music. Pierre Boulez founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose, the first permanent organization of its type in the world. Organi ...

, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

, the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

, the Salzburg Music Festival, the

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...

in Paris, and the

Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera and Ballet ( fi, Suomen Kansallisooppera ja -baletti; sv, Finlands Nationalopera och -balett) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the T ...

, among others. In a 2019 composers' poll by BBC Music Magazine, Saariaho was ranked the greatest living composer. Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki,

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her research at the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM) marked a turning point in her music away from strict serialism towards

spectralism Spectral music uses the acoustic properties of sound – or sound spectra – as a basis for composition. Definition Defined in technical language, spectral music is an acoustic musical practice where compositional decisions are often inform ...

. Her characteristically rich, polyphonic textures are often created by combining live music and electronics.

Life and work

Saariaho was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. She studied at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It al ...

under

Paavo Heininen Paavo Johannes Heininen (13 January 1938 – 18 January 2022) was a Finnish composer and pianist. Biography He was born in Helsinki, where he studied at the Sibelius Academy and was taught composition by Aarre Merikanto, Einojuhani Rautavaara, E ...

. After attending the Darmstadt Summer Courses, she moved to Germany to study at the

Hochschule für Musik Freiburg ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

under Brian Ferneyhough and

Klaus Huber Klaus Huber (30 November 1924 – 2 October 2017) was a Swiss composer and academic based in Basel and Freiburg. Among his students were Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Jarrell, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, and Kaija Saariaho. ...

. She found her teachers' emphasis on strict serialism and mathematical structures stifling, saying in an interview: In 1980, Saariaho went to the Darmstadt Summer Courses and attended a concert of the French spectralists

Tristan Murail Tristan Murail (born 11 March 1947) is a French composer associated with the "spectral" technique of composition. Among his compositions is the large orchestral work ''Gondwana''. Early life and studies Murail was born in Le Havre, France. His fa ...

and Gerard Grisey. Hearing spectral music for the first time marked a profound shift in Saariaho's artistic direction. These experiences guided her decision to attend courses in

computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ...

that were being given by

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...

, the computer music research institute in Paris, by David Wessel, Jean-Baptiste Barrière, and Marc Battier. In 1982, she began work at IRCAM researching computer analyses of the sound-spectrum of individual notes produced by different instruments. She developed techniques for computer-assisted composition, experimented with '' musique concrète'', and wrote her first pieces combining live performance with electronics. She also composed new works using IRCAM's CHANT synthesiser. Each of her Jardin Secret trilogy was created with the use of computer programs. ''Jardin secret I'' (1985), ''Jardin secret II'' (1986), and ''Nymphea (Jardin secret III)'' (1987). Her works with electronics were developed in collaboration with Jean-Baptiste Barrière, a composer, multimedia artist, and computer scientist who directed the IRCAM's department of musical research from 1984 to 1987. Saariaho and Barrière married in 1984. They have two children. In Paris, Saariaho developed an emphasis on slow transformations of dense masses of sound. Her first tape piece, ''Vers Le Blanc'' from 1982, and her orchestral and tape work, ''Verblendungen'', are both constructed from a single transition: in ''Vers Le Blanc'' the transition is from one pitch cluster to another, while in ''Verblendungen'', it is from loud to quiet. ''Verblendungen'' also uses a pair of visual ideas as its basis: a brush stroke which starts as a dense mark on the page and thins out into individual strands, and the word ''Verblendungen'' itself, which means "dazzlements, delusions, blindedness". Her work in the 1980s and 1990s was marked by an emphasis on

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...

and the use of

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

alongside traditional instruments. ''Nymphéa (Jardin secret III)'' (1987), for example, is for string quartet and live electronics and contains an additional vocal element: the musicians whisper the words of an Arseny Tarkovsky poem, ''Now Summer is Gone''. In writing ''Nymphea'', Saariaho used a fractal generator to create material. Writing about the compositional process, Saariaho said: Saariaho has often talked about having a kind of synaesthesia, one that involves all of the senses, saying: Another example is ''Six Japanese Gardens'' (1994), a percussion piece accompanied by a prerecorded electronic layer of the Japanese nature, traditional instruments, and chanting of Buddhist monks. During her visit to Tokyo in 1993, she expanded her original percussion conception into a semi- indeterminate piece. It consists of six movements that each represent a garden composed of traditional Japanese architecture, by which she was inspired rhythmically. Especially in movement IV and V, she explored many possibilities of complex

polyrhythm Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music ( cross-rhyt ...

in liberated instrumentation. She said: In her book on Saariaho, musicologist Pirkko Moisala writes about the indeterminate nature of this composition: On 1 December 2016, the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

gave its first performance of ''

L'Amour de loin ' (''Love from Afar'') is an opera in five acts with music by Kaija Saariaho and a French-language libretto by Amin Maalouf. The opera received its world premiere performance on 15 August 2000 at the Salzburg Festival. Saariaho, living in Paris si ...

'', the second opera by a female composer ever to be presented by the company (the first was performed more than a century earlier, in 1903). The subsequent transmission of the opera to cinema on 10 December 2016 as part of the

Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Metropolitan Opera Live in HD (also known as The Met: Live in HD) is a series of live opera performances transmitted in high-definition video via satellite from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to select venues, primarily movie theaters, ...

series marked the first opera by a female composer, and the first opera conducted by a female conductor ( Susanna Mälkki), in the series. In 2002 the Santa Fe Opera presented ''L’Amour de Loin''. In 2008, the Santa Fe Opera also presented her opera ''

Adriana Mater ''Adriana Mater'' is the second opera by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, with a libretto in French by her frequent collaborator, Amin Maalouf. The Opéra National de Paris and the Finnish National Opera jointly commissioned the opera. It rec ...

''.

Awards and honours

* 1986 – Kranichsteiner Prize at

Darmstädter Ferienkurse Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Co ...

Moisala, Pirkko, 'Gender Negotiation of the Composer Kaija Saariaho in Finland: The Woman Composer as Nomadic Subject', in ''Music and Gender'' (Pirkko Moisala and Beverley Diamond, editors). University of Illinois Press (), pp 166–188 (2000). * 1988 –

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with the ...

for ''Stilleben'' * 1989 –

Prix Ars Electronica The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria) ...

for ''Stilleben'' and ''Io''; one-year residency at the University of San Diego * 2000 – Nordic Council Music Prize for ''Lonh'' * 2003 –

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

'' honoris causa'' by the Faculty of Arts,

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

* 2003 – Doctor of Philosophy ''honoris causa'' by the Faculty of Arts,

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

* 2003 –

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

Grawemeyer Award The Grawemeyer Awards () are five awards given annually by the University of Louisville. The prizes are presented to individuals in the fields of education, ideas improving world order, music composition, religion, and psychology. The religion awa ...

for ''

L'Amour de loin ' (''Love from Afar'') is an opera in five acts with music by Kaija Saariaho and a French-language libretto by Amin Maalouf. The opera received its world premiere performance on 15 August 2000 at the Salzburg Festival. Saariaho, living in Paris si ...

'' * 2008 – ''

Musical America ''Musical America'' is the oldest American magazine on classical music, first appearing in 1898 in print and in 1999 online, at musicalamerica.com. It is published by Performing Arts Resources, LLC, of East Windsor, New Jersey. History 1898–19 ...

'' "Musician of the Year 2008" * 2009 –

Wihuri Sibelius Prize The Wihuri Sibelius Prize is a music prize awarded by the Wihuri Foundation for International Prizes to prominent composers who have become internationally known and acknowledged. The Wihuri Sibelius Prize is one of the biggest and most prestig ...

* 2010 – invited by Walter Fink to be the 20th composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

; the second female composer after Sofia Gubaidulina. * 2011 –

Léonie Sonning Music Prize The Léonie Sonning Music Prize, or Sonning Award, which is recognized as Denmark's highest musical honor, is given annually to an international composer or musician. It was first awarded in 1959 to composer Igor Stravinsky. Laureates are now s ...

* 2011 –

Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by m ...

(''L'amour de loin'') * 2013 –

Polar Music Prize The Polar Music Prize is a Swedish international award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, best known as the manager of the Swedish band ABBA, with a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The award is annually given to one contemporar ...

* 2017 –

BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards () are an international award programme recognizing significant contributions in the areas of scientific research and cultural creation. The categories that make up the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards ...

in Contemporary Music * 2021 – Leone d'oro di Venezia, Biennale della Musica Contemporanea

Selected works

* ''Verblendungen'' (1984; orchestra, electronics) * ''Lichtbogen'' (1986; flute, percussion, piano, harp, strings, live electronics) * ''Io'' (1987; large ensemble, electronics) * ''Nymphéa'' (1987; string quartet, electronics) * ''Petals'' (1988; cello, electronics) * ''Du cristal...'' (1989; orchestra, live electronics) * '' ...à la Fumée'' (1990; solo alto flute and cello, orchestra) * ''NoaNoa'' (1992; flute, live electronics) * ''Graal théâtre'' (1994; violin, orchestra) * ''Folia'' (1995; double bass, live electronics) * ''Oltra Mar'' (1999; chorus and orchestra) * ''

L'Amour de loin ' (''Love from Afar'') is an opera in five acts with music by Kaija Saariaho and a French-language libretto by Amin Maalouf. The opera received its world premiere performance on 15 August 2000 at the Salzburg Festival. Saariaho, living in Paris si ...

'' (2000; opera) * '' Sept Papillons'' (2000; solo cello) * ''Orion'' (2002; orchestra) * ''Asteroid 4179: Toutatis'' (2005; orchestra) * '' La Passion de Simone'' (2006; oratorio/opera) * ''

Adriana Mater ''Adriana Mater'' is the second opera by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, with a libretto in French by her frequent collaborator, Amin Maalouf. The Opéra National de Paris and the Finnish National Opera jointly commissioned the opera. It rec ...

'' (2006; opera, libretto by Amin Maalouf) * '' Notes on Light'' (2006; cello concerto) * ''Terra Memoria'' (2007; string quartet) * '' Laterna Magica'' (2008; orchestra) * '' Émilie'' (2010; opera) * ''

D'Om le Vrai Sens ''D'Om le Vrai Sens'' (''Man's True Sense'') is a clarinet concerto by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. The work was jointly commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC, the Fundação Casa da Musica, the Swedish Radio Symph ...

'' (2010; clarinet concerto) * ''

Circle Map In mathematics, particularly in dynamical systems, Arnold tongues (named after Vladimir Arnold) Section 12 in page 78 has a figure showing Arnold tongues. are a pictorial phenomenon that occur when visualizing how the rotation number of a dynamic ...

'' (2012; orchestra) * '' Maan varjot'' ("Earth's Shadows") (2013; organ and orchestra) * '' True Fire'' (2014; baritone and orchestra) * ''Trans'' (2015; harp concerto) * ''Only The Sound Remains'' (2015; ''Always Strong'' and ''Feather Mantle'') *''Innocence'' (2018; opera)

Selected recordings

* ''Graal Théâtre'' –

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer ( lv, Gidons Krēmers; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holo ...

;

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

;

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

– Sony SK60817 * ''L'Amour de loin'' –

Gerald Finley Gerald Hunter Finley, (born January 30, 1960) is a Canadian baritone opera singer. Early life Finley was born in Montreal and studied music at St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Ottawa, the University of Ottawa, King's College, Cambridge and the Ro ...

;

Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempor ...

;

Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera and Ballet ( fi, Suomen Kansallisooppera ja -baletti; sv, Finlands Nationalopera och -balett) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the T ...

;

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

– Deutsche Grammophon DVD 00440 073 40264 * ''Nymphéa'' – Cikada String Quartet – ECM New Series 472 4222

References

External links

Kaija Saariaho's homepage

Saariaho, Kaija (1952–)
at National Biography of Finland
Chester Music Composer's homepage

CompositionToday – Saariaho article and review of works

Kaija Saariaho – Virtual International Philharmonic

2003 – Kaija Saariaho.
Grawemeyer Foundation page on Kaija Saariaho.
2003 honorary degree recipients
at University of Turku

* Iitti, Sanna

''International Alliance for Women in Music Journal'', 2001. * * Seter, Ronit

''Musicology Now'' (American Musicological Society's blog), 15 June 2016. * Seter, Roni
Getting Close with Saariaho and L'amour de loin.
''NewMusicBox'', 2 December 2016. * Fiilin, Teemu
Kaija Saariaho voted greatest living composer by BBC Music Magazine.
''Music Finland'', 13 November 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saariaho, Kaija 1952 births 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Finnish classical composers Living people Microtonal composers Musicians from Helsinki Rolf Schock Prize laureates Waldorf school alumni Finnish opera composers Women classical composers Sibelius Academy alumni Grammy Award winners Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize Women in classical music Women in electronic music Finnish expatriates in France Women opera composers Finnish women classical composers 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers Cedille Records artists 20th-century Finnish composers 21st-century Finnish composers