Kaija Saariaho, the groundbreaking Finnish composer has died. She was 70 years old. Her work has been pivotal in the developments of contemporary classical music, paving the way for a new and rich partnership between electronics and live classical performance.

Kaija Saariaho. Photo © Andrew Campbell

Saariaho was born in Helsinki in 1952 and studied at the Sibelius, studying with Paavo Heininen. Upon graduation, she moved onto the Musikhochschule in Germany and studied under Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber. During her time there, she began to experiment with the use of tape, computer and synthesised music, and also joined IRCAM in Paris in 1982, with a focus on spectral music and analysis. After her work there, she remained living in Paris.

Her first orchestra work was developed during her time there; Verblendungen (1984) negotiates the relationship between orchestra and tape over its course. She was also the founder of Ears Open in 1977, a society whose members urged and promoted the presentation of contemporary music.

Saariaho was commissioned by an illustrious range of organisations, including by the Lincoln...