Paris-based Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho died on 2 June 2023 at the age of 70. She is known for seamlessly integrating acoustic and electronic sounds and techniques, both in the musical score and in the compositional process—not only integrating fixed media and live electronics with acoustic instruments in elegant and organic ways but also using computer analysis of acoustic sounds to inform the harmony and other properties of a composition, in the spectralist tradition. Born in Helsinki in 1952 and trained at the Sibelius Academy there, Saariaho attended the Darmstadt Summer Courses and moved to Germany to study with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber. Inspired by French spectralist composers Tristan Murail and Gerard Grisey, she moved to Paris in 1982, where she began exploring approaches to incorporating electronics into acoustic classical music at l'Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM).
Her work received much acclaim; for example, she was the...