Guildhall School Musicians: Spotlight on Kaija Saariaho

Kaiija Saariaho is one of the most original and influential figures in 21st-century music, a composer who used Finland’s buoyant musical traditions as a launchpad for a journey that has transformed our very perception of musical space and time. Few living composers are more deserving of a day of total immersion; and none occupies such a striking position between intellectual enquiry and pure, wondrous beauty.

‘I hope the music can open all kinds of minds’ she says. ‘It’s like eating a cake, you just enjoy it or you do not.’ And so we begin in the intimate space of Milton Court with a taster selection of her chamber music – performed by musicians from Guildhall School of Music & Drama.