Who is Kaija Saariaho?

Who is Kaija Saariaho?
Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) – pronounced KAI-ya SAH-ree-a-ho – is regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. During the concert series La femme lumineuse (2024), her a cappella work Nuits, adieux was performed, just one of many examples of her groundbreaking sound world.

The Finnish composer, born in Helsinki, was known for her radical approach to timbre and her unique blending of electronics with acoustic instruments. Saariaho was a pioneer in computer music, developing new methods for computer-assisted composition during her years at IRCAM in Paris. Her oeuvre is characterized by an intense attention to detail and the shaping of sound as a physical presence.

As she herself once said:
“For me, the visual and musical worlds form one entity. Different senses, shades of color, textures and tones of light, even smells and sounds, merge in my thoughts.”

Vroege jaren en doorbraak

Saariaho’s upbringing was anything but artistic. The daughter of a metalworker and a housewife, she received little encouragement from home. As a child, she composed in secret in her bedroom and devoured books about Mozart.

This passion led her in the early 1970s to the Sibelius Academy, where she was the only female composition student in her class. There she developed a fascination for electronic music and spectralism, a French compositional movement that uses the acoustic properties of sound—or sound spectra—as the foundation for music. These interests deepened at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, where she encountered Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey, pioneers of spectral and computer music.

In 1981 she continued her studies at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, where she clashed with the strict rules of serialism:

“You were not allowed to have pulse, or tonally oriented harmonies or melodies. I don’t want to write music through negations. Everything is allowed, as long as it is done in good taste.”

A year later, having settled in Paris, she was able to experiment freely with sound and technology during her work at IRCAM (Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique). Her years there were decisive: she explored computer analyses of the sound spectrum of single notes played on different instruments and developed new techniques for computer-assisted composition. She also created her first works that combined live performance with electronics.

This exploration of lush, mysterious textures soon bore fruit: just a few years later she composed Lichtbogen, the electro-acoustic work that became her breakthrough in 1986. From then on, Saariaho expanded her oeuvre across a wide variety of genres, including chamber and choral music, while constantly challenging herself to explore new directions. Her international reputation, however, was cemented above all by her operas in the 1990s and 2000s.

Saariaho’s music is often described as immersive, sensual, and avant-garde. Gradual transformations, subtle shifts in color, and a play across the spectrum between sound and noise form its core. While she resisted being labeled a “spectralist,” she did use techniques from the movement:

• Decentralizing pitch – placing timbre and perception at the center, rather than the note itself.
  In serialism, pitch remained the dominant parameter, with music defined as the organization of pitches. Spectralism broke away from this, focusing on new parameters such as timbre and the holistic perception of sound. Saariaho built on this by delving into “timbre harmony” and psychoacoustics, the science of sound perception. She went further than the first generation of spectralists, who focused mainly on analyzing spectra, by incorporating rhythm, speech patterns, and self-designed scales and modes from the 1990s onward.

• The sound/noise axis – creating expressive effects through breath sounds or bow pressure rather than consonance/dissonance.
  One of Saariaho’s early key ideas was using noise to generate tension, rather than the traditional dichotomy of consonance and dissonance. This sound/noise axis became a cornerstone of her musical language, yielding expressive effects such as whispering flute sounds or string timbres made gritty and charged through heavy bow pressure.

• Spectral analysis – investigating frequency patterns and perception to construct new forms of harmony.
  The 1980s were a golden age for computer music, and Saariaho was at its heart at IRCAM in Paris. There, new techniques were developed to dissect sound spectra into their component frequencies. While many composers used this data to generate artificial sounds or build complex harmonies, Saariaho chose another path. She worked with Terhardt’s algorithm, which models how humans actually perceive sound—focusing on perceptual weight and virtual pitch. By building chords from this perceptual data, she created a new type of harmony, related to tonality but rooted in the workings of the ear itself.

Saariaho also often worked across media: her compositions frequently combine music, light, imagery, and technology, creating a total experience that immerses the listener fully.

Influence and recognition

Saariaho received numerous prestigious awards, including the Grawemeyer Award, the Nemmers Prize, and two Grammys. In 2019, BBC Music Magazine named her Best Living Composer. As one of the first women to achieve international recognition in composition, she became a role model for subsequent generations. For more insight into her thinking, see her column in FMQ’s “On my music and beyond” series.

La femme lumineuse (2024)

The program La femme lumineuse, curated by Krista Audere, honored Saariaho’s musical legacy. Alongside her Nuits, adieux, the program included works by other visionary female composers such as Karin Rehnqvist, Nana Forte, and Roxanna Panufnik. The program wove together themes of light and darkness, reflection and cosmos, in a spirit reminiscent of Saariaho’s own preference for coherent, sensory listening experiences.

The lighting design by Floriaan Ganzevoort intensified the experience: his subtle yet dramatic play of light made the interplay between sound and space almost tangible, especially during Saariaho’s Nuits, adieux. In this way, the essence of her work—music as both a visual and auditory landscape—was powerfully continued.

Cappella Amsterdam – Milagro Elstak