KAIJA SAARIAHO

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) has lived and worked in Paris since 1982. She studied composition with Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy and later at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber, receiving her diploma there in 1983. In 1982 she attended courses in computer music at IRCAM in Paris, and since that time the computer has been an important element of her composing technique. Her latest project, an opera entitled L'amour de loin, is a co-commission of the Salzburg Festival and Théâtre du Châtelet, conducted by Kent Nagano and featuring Dawn Upshaw. Saariaho's music is available on the Finlandia, Ondine, Wergo, Neuma and BIS record labels.