Kaija Saariaho (born October 14 1952 in Helsinki) is a finnish composer.
For 13 years Saariaho attended the Helsinki Rudolf Steiner School, a school with a strong arts and music curriculum, and
studied violin and piano at the Sibelius Academy. She later studied composition in Freiburg (under Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus
Huber) and at IRCAM in Paris, where she has lived since 1982.
Saariaho was influenced by post-serialism, but she grew to find it too restrictive: “You were not allowed to have pulse, or
tonally oriented harmonies, or melodies. I don’t want to write music through ...read more
Kaija Saariaho (born October 14 1952 in Helsinki) is a finnish composer.
For 13 years Saariaho attended the Helsinki Rudolf Steiner School, a school with a strong arts and music curriculum, and
studied violin and piano at the Sibelius Academy. She later studied composition in Freiburg (under Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus
Huber) and at IRCAM in Paris, where she has lived since 1982.
Saariaho was influenced by post-serialism, but she grew to find it too restrictive: “You were not allowed to have pulse, or
tonally oriented harmonies, or melodies. I don’t want to write music through negations. Everything is permissible as long as it’s
done in good taste.” Most critics cite spectral music composers Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail as her largest influences. Her
studies and research at ircam have had a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious
textures are often created by combining live music and electronics. Her work in the 1980s and 1990s is marked by its emphasis
on timbre and use of electronics alongside traditional instruments; Nymphéa (Jardin secret III) (1987), for example, is for string
quartet and live electronics. It contains an additional vocal element: the musicians whispering the words to a poem by
Tarkovsky. « hide
