Kaija Saariaho is a prominent member of a group of Finnish artists who are making a worldwide impact. She studied in Helsinki, Fribourg and Paris. At IRCAM, Saariaho developed techniques of computer-assisted composition and acquired fluency in working with live electronics. This experience influenced her approach to writing for orchestra, with its emphasis on the shaping of dense masses of sound in slow transformations. Significantly, her first orchestral piece, Verblendungen (1984), involves a gradual exchange of roles and character between orchestra and tape. From later nineties, Saariaho has turned to opera, with outstanding success: L’Amour de Loin (2000), Adriana Mater (2006), Emilie (2010) and the oratorio La Passion de Simone (2006) have been performed widely on both sides of the Atlantic. At the moment Saariaho is working on her fifth opera Innocence to be premiered at Festival Aix en Provence 2020. Saariaho has claimed the major composing awards: Grawemeyer Award, Wihuri Prize, Nemmers Prize, Sonning Prize, Polar Music Prize and the BVVA Foundation´s Frontiers of Knowledge Award.
