Saariaho Kaija
Born in Helsinki in 1952. She studied at the Sibelius Academy with Paavo Heininen, and then at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber (graduating in 1983); she has also participated in courses in Darmstadt. In 1982 a new phase of work and study began for her at the IRCAM research institute in Paris, where she has been living since then. At IRCAM she learned the most advanced methods of using electronics as a compositional tool. Her experience in the use of computer, live electronics and tape is applied on a particularly large scale in her orchestral works, in shaping and slowly transforming dense masses of orchestral sound. IRCAM also brought her close to French spectralists, and enabled her to master the techniques of sound spectrum computer analysis.
In recent years her interests have centred on music theatre. The first performance in 2000 of her L’Amour de loin took place during the Salzburg festival. The work, based on the biography of the 12th-century troubadour, Jaufré Rudel, was directed by Peter Sellars. It met with great acclaim and gained the composer the Grawemayer Award. Another of Saariaho’s successes was the premiere of the opera Adriana Mater, also staged by Sellars, at Opéra Bastille in Paris in March 2006. Her third operatic work, Emilie, was premiered in 2010 in Lyon and Amsterdam, featuring Karita Mattila.
Alongside such theatre artists as Sellars and Malouff, the composer collaborates on a regular basis with Esa-Pekka Salonen, flautist Camilla Hoitenga, cellist Anssi Karttunen, soprano Dawn Upshaw, and recently with the pianist Emmanuel Ax. She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Nordic Music Prize (2000), Académie Charles Cros (2000), the Swedish Rolf Shock Prize (2001), and the already mentioned Grawemayer Award (2003). In 2005 she was honoured with the Finlandia Medal, the official Order of the Lion of Finland. In 2008 she was named as composer of the year by the “Musical America” magazine, and in 2011 she received the prestigious Danish Léonie Sonning Music Prize.
S e l e c t e d w o r k s ( s i n c e 1 9 9 5 ): Six Japanese Gardens for percussion and electronics (1995), Graal Théâtre, violin concerto (1995; version for solo violin and chamber orchestra 1997), Château de l’âme, song cycle with orchestra (1996), Lonh for soprano and electronics (1996), Spins and Spells for solo cello (1996), New Gates for flute, harp and viola (1996), Pilvimusiikkia, electronic music (1997), Mirrors for flute and cello (1997), Miranda’s Lament for soprano, clarinet, harp, violin and double bass (1997), Neiges for eight cellos (1998), Forty Heartbeats for orchestra (1998), Cendres for alto flute, cello and piano (1998), Oltra mar (Across the Sea), “seven preludes for the new millennium” for mixed choir and orchestra (1998–1999), Du cristal for alto flute, cello, synthesizer and symphony orchestra (1990), Maa, ballet music for flute, harpsichord, percussion, harp, violin, viola, cello and live electronics (1991), Unien kieliopista (From the Grammar of Dreams), stage music for two sopranos, flute, viola, cello and harp (1986–2000), L’Amour de loin (Love from Afar), opera in 5 acts to libretto by Amin Maalouf based on Jaufré Rudel’s La vida breve (1999–2000), Song for Betty (2001; arrangement of the last part of L’Amour de loin), Cinq reflets de l’Amour de loin for soprano, baritone and orchestra (2001), Orion for orchestra (2002), Changing Light for soprano and violin (2002), Quatre instants for soprano and piano, to words from the Siddur shim Shaslom, English translation by Rabbi J. Harlow (2002), Je sense un deuxième coeur for viola, cello and piano (2003), The Tempest Songbook, six songs to words by Shakespeare for soprano, baritone and orchestra (2004), Dolce tormento for piccolo flute (2004), Ballade for piano (2005), Asteroid 4179: Toutatis for orchestra (2005), Adriana Mater, opera to a libretto by Amin Maalouf (2005),Notes on Light for cello and orchestra (2006), Vent nocturne for viola and electronics (2006), Tag des Jahres for two sopranos, mezzosoprano, countertenor, tenor, bass and electronics, to words by Hölderlin (2006), La Passion de Simone, dramatic oratorio to words by Amin Maalouf (2006), Terra Memoria for string quartet (2007), Leino Songs, song cycle for soprano and orchestra to words by Eino Leino (2007), Mirage for soprano, cello and orchestra (2007), Echo for vocal ensemble and electronics (2007), Laterna Magica for orchestra (2008), Emilie, opera in 9 scenes to a libretto by Amin Maalouf (2008), Lumière et Pesanteur for orchestra (2009), Cloud Trio for string trio (2009), D’OM LE VRAI SENS, for clarinet and orchestra (2010), Frises for violin and electronics (2011), Circle Map for orchestra (2012).
