Albuquerque, NM

Internationally renowned Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho makes her Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival debut this 2008 as one of four contemporary composers co-commissioned by Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival to write a new work for the coming season. Recently named Musical America’s Composer of the Year 2008, Ms. Saariaho is known for her works involving electronics. A beneficiary of Finland’s remarkable musical education system, she is among the few contemporary composers to achieve public acclaim as well as universal critical respect.

Born in Helsinki in 1952, Ms. Saariaho studied at the Sibelius Academy with the pioneering modernist Paavo Heininen, and at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber. Ms. Saariaho also studied at the Darmstadt summer courses, and at the IRCAM research institute in Paris, France. Through IRCAM, Ms. Saariaho became allied with the French ‘spectralist” composers, whose techniques are based on computer analysis of the sound-spectrum of individual notes on different instruments. Since then, the computer has been an important part of her composing technique.

Ms. Saariaho’s works for orchestra and chamber ensembles are numerous, and she has over fifty CDs to her credit, comprised of CDs featuring her works only, as well as recordings on which her works appear. She has had commissions from such major orchestras as Cleveland, Boston, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin and Paris, and also has taken part in several multimedia productions, including a full-length ballet, Maa, and a CD-Rom project entitled “Prisma” about her work. In recent years, Ms. Saariaho has composed for opera. In 2000 her first opera, L’Amour de loin, premiered at the Salzburg Festival. In 2004, her second opera, Adriana Mater, received its US premiere at the Santa Fe Opera.

Kaija Saariaho’s 2008 Festival work is co-commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music, La Jolla Music Society, and the ensemble Real Quiet. The new piece (currently untitled) will receive its world premiere on the Music of the Masters Sunday Series at St. Francis on August 3, 2008. Additional performances of the work will follow later that week on August 4 and 8 (same location and time). Another of her works, Sept Papillons, will be performed at the Festival on August 1. She joins a long list of renowned contemporary composers who have been commissioned by the Festival over its 36 year history, including Ned Rorem, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Richard Danielpour and Bright Sheng.

For more information, please visit the Festival’s website at sfcmf.org.

From the Blogger, me:
This is really exciting to me as a novice in this realm of music! We are fortunate to have a premiere opening this summer in Santa Fe, Let me tell you their events are no less than incredible: always inspiring. I’d plan ahead abd book your reservations as soon as you can and buy your tickets early, because this will b e sold out within a few weeks. You might want to check hotel rates too, some of the Bread and Breakfasts still within walking distance of the plaza, may have slightly lower rates. Five Graces Inn, which provides greater privacy would be a great treat too. Do contact Santa Fe Chamber Music about this incredible opportunity!

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Volunteer Profile: Bernie and Barbara Holzapfel

Barbara and Bernie Holzapfel have been volunteers with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival since 2003. A warm, energetic couple with an engaging sense of humor who celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary this past November 2007, they moved permanently to Santa Fe a little over a year ago. Prior to their re-location, they shuffled between New Mexico and Connecticut, spending half the year in each state.

Avid lovers of chamber music, opera and symphonic music, the Holzapfel’s enjoy their volunteer work at the Festival, coming in throughout the year to stuff envelopes and program inserts. In addition to volunteering, the retirees (Barbara was a registered nurse and Bernie was a VP of sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry) enjoy reading, traveling and spending time with their grandchildren.

SFCMF Newsletter caught up with the Holzapfel’s in early December while they were at the Festival offices to stuff envelopes.

Do you look forward to a particular artist returning to the festival?

Pinchas Zukerman.

Are you looking forward to a particular concert this season?

We’re looking forward to the Beethoven String Quartet cycle. Some of our favorite performances from over the years are actually from last season: one of the Beethoven quartets - the performance really stood out – we sat upstairs in the balcony – it was incredible! And Saint-Seans’ Carnival of the Animals – the performance had a nice human touch – it’s a work one doesn’t expect to see at chamber music festival Yes Read more

There are other exciting program announcements too. I will include those in later blogs.