Kaija Saariaho

ComposerKaija Saariaho is a prominent member of a group of Finnish composers and performers who are now, in mid-career, making a worldwide impact. She studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. 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. Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works, from the mid-nineties she has turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures, such as the operas L’Amour de loin and Adriana Mater and the oratorio La Passion de Simone.Kaija Saariaho first worked with Wayne McGregor in 2009 for Limen which premiered at the Royal Ballet London. Circle Map, her composition for McGregor’s new creation at the Bayerisches Staatsballett in 2018, was composed in 2012. (Information as of March 2018)