Kaija Saariaho

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

life and work

Saariaho studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with the avant-garde Paavo Heininen and founded the group Open Ears with Magnus Lindberg and others . She then continued her training in Freiburg im Breisgau with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber , took part in the Darmstadt summer courses and from 1982 studied at the IRCAM in the Center Pompidou in Paris , where she still lived in 2010, computer-aided composition and work with tape and Live electronics .

Compositions such as Verblierungen (1984), an interplay between orchestra and tape, as well as Du Cristal (1989) and … à la Fumée (1990) were created using live electronics. Under the influence of the spectralists , a French composer group whose compositions are based on the computer analysis of the sound spectrum of individual notes on different instruments, Saariaho turned to a style characterized by long bass notes and the use of microtonal intervals. In this style she composed her best known work, Graal théâtre for violin and orchestra (1994–1997).

Saariaho's works have been performed at international festivals in London (1989), Jakarta (1989), Paris (1989, 1991) and Vienna (1993). Kent Nagano conducted her first opera L'amour de loin at the Salzburg Festival in 2000 with great success (based on a libretto by Amin Maalouf based on the biography of the troubadour Jaufré Rudel La vida breve ). In 2006 the world premiere of her opera Adriana Mater took place at the Opéra Bastille in Paris . In 2010, Saariaho's third opera, Émilie, premiered in Lyon . The libretto for this one-person opera was again written by Amin Maalouf, the conductor was Kazushi Ono. In 1999 Kurt Masur conducted her composition Oltra mar for choir and orchestra with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra . At the invitation of Walter Fink , she appeared in the annual composer portrait of the Rheingau Music Festival 2010, as the second woman after Sofia Gubaidulina . In the Metternichsaal of Schloss Johannisberg , among others, Sept papillons for violoncello solo (2000), played by Anssi Karttunen , and Quatre instants for soprano and piano (2002) with Pia Freund and David Lively . In 2011, the recording of her opera L'amour de loin by the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin and the Rundfunkchor Berlin under the direction of Kent Nagano received the Grammy Award in the category Best Opera Recording . In 2012 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In the 2016/2017 season, the Metropolitan Opera New York brought its opera L'amour de loin (world premiere in 2000). In 2012 Saariaho was elected an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). In 2017 she was accepted as an honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Music awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ L'amour de loin at the Met ( Memento from September 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 10, 2018
  2. ↑ ISCM Honorary Members , accessed June 29, 2020
  3. ↑ Honorary Members: Kaija Saariaho. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 20, 2019 .
  4. ↑ BAZ, edition B of 17./18. January 2009, page 5
  5. ↑ Kaija Saariaho och Youssou N´Dour for Polarpriset 2013 ( Memento from May 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Dagens Nyheter , dn.se , May 7, 2013

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Saariaho, Kaija
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Saariaho, Kaija Anneli
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 14, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Helsinki