Kaija Saariaho was a Finnish composer known for combining acoustic instruments with electronics and prerecorded sounds. Her extensive worklist contains music for voice, chorus, and orchestra, in addition to her three operas and several pieces for chamber ensembles. Saariaho was born in Helsinki in 1952 into a non-musical family. As a child, she was interested in the visual arts, and she began taking violin lessons. When she was nine years old, she started studying the piano in addition to the violin, and she also experimented with composing in the following year. From 1970 to 1972, she attended the Rudolf Steiner School in Helsinki and the East Helsinki Music Institute, where she focused on the piano and violin. This was followed by piano and organ studies at the Helsinki Conservatory of Music, and the musicology program at the University of Helsinki. Additionally, Saariaho enrolled at the Institute of Industrial Arts as a graphic design major, but in 1976, she left the program to study music theory and composition at the Sibelius Academy under Paavo Heininen. After her graduation in 1980, she continued studying composition at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany, where her professors were Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber. Around the time of her graduation in 1983, Saariaho composed Verblendungen and Vers le blanc, and she moved to Paris to work in the electronic music studios of the IRCAM. In the following year, she married Jean-Baptiste Barrière, who also worked at IRCAM. She continued exploring the possibilities of combining acoustic instruments with electronics with pieces such as Nymphéa, Io, and Lichtbogen. Saariaho became highly admired in the 1990s for her sophisticated yet accessible style, which led to many commissioned works, such as Maa for the Finnish National Ballet, Graal Théâtre for Gidon Kremer, and the Château de l'âme cycle for Dawn Upshaw. She received the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2000 for her vocal piece Lohn, and in 2003 she won a Grawemeyer Award for her opera L'Amour de loin. That same year, she was also given honorary doctorates from the University of Turku and the University of Helsinki. Saariaho's critically acclaimed second opera, Adriana Mater, received premieres in 2006 and 2008, and Kent Nagano's recording of L'Amour de loin won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Other major works from this period include the organ concerto Maan varjot for organist Olivier Latry, the harp concerto Trans for harpist Xavier de Maistre, and her third opera, Innocence, was completed in 2018. Three years later, Saariaho was named Composer of the Year by The New York Times, and Innocence received its debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. However, she was also diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Her final composition was the trumpet concerto Hush for trumpeter Verneri Pohjola in 2023, but she passed away a few months before the premiere. Saariaho's music can be heard on Kaija Saariaho: Graal Théâtre; Circle Map; Neiges; Vers toi qui es si loin, Reconnaissance: Kaija Saariaho Choral Music, and countless other recordings. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi