Kaija Saariaho

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 t...