Albums by Kaija Saariaho
ALBUM:InnenSophie-Justine Herr
ALBUMTakács Assad LabroTakács Quartet, Clarice Assad & Julien Labro
ALBUMBut I Like to Sing...Carolyn Sampson & Joseph Middleton
ALBUMReconnaissanceHelsinki Chamber Choir & Nils Schweckendiek
ALBUMKaija Saariaho: Cello WorksJoanna Gutowska
ALBUMNorthern LightsAventa Ensemble
ALBUMRememberingJakob Kullberg, BBC Philharmonic & Sinfonia Varsovia
ALBUMSumun läpiAnu Komsi & Pia Varri
ALBUMKaija Saariaho: Circle Map, Graal théâtre, Vers toi qui es si loin & NeigesOslo Philharmonic, Clement Mao-Takacs & Peter Herresthal
ALBUMFace to FaceLina Johnson & Anne-Marie Lipsonen
Kaija Saariaho's Popular Music Videos
Pt. I
Jennifer Koh
Pt. II
Jennifer Koh
NoaNoa (feat. Camilla Hoitenga)
Kaija Saariaho
Nocturne (feat. Aliisa Neige Barrière)
Kaija Saariaho
Artist Playlists
Kaija Saariaho Essentials
The Finnish composer's extraordinary and beautiful soundworlds made her a true great.
Artist Biography
Listening to Kaija Saariaho’s works can feel like taking a mystical voyage into another world. It’s a feeling you get even from her first professional work, the dazzling Verblendungen (1984), and the breakthrough piece that followed, Lichtbogen (1986), inspired by the aurora borealis. Characteristically, both pieces seamlessly meld acoustic instruments with electronics to create ethereal, mysteriously shifting soundscapes. So often in Saariaho’s work you'll hear her synesthetic appreciation of sound—color is key. Born in 1952 in Helsinki, she was part of a generation of powerhouse Finnish composers (including Esa-Pekka Salonen and Magnus Lindberg) who attended the Sibelius Academy. But her voice was distinctly her own. She initially followed the path of complex serial music before discovering the work of French spectralists Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey while attending the famous Darmstadt summer course. Saariaho also attended the IRCAM in Paris, where she began an intense exploration of spectral music in which the acoustical properties of sound—or sound spectra—are used as the basis for composition. Her operas, such as the darkly alluring L’Amour de loin (2000), are dramatic and yet luminously textured. Her command of orchestral color—hear her purely orchestral diptych Du cristal …à la fumée (1990)—was second to none: She created music that seems to evolve naturally and breathe with a life of its own.
Hometown
Helsinki, Finland
Genre
Classical