Dutch premiere Hush at the Saariaho Festival 13 to 16 March 2025 

Asko|Schönberg and the Muziekgebouw honour composer Kaija Saariaho, who died in 2023, with the Saariaho Festival. When she died, she was at the height of her fame and was honoured as the composer who gave modernism a face that was as human as it was fairy-tale. The opening concert will feature her last work Hush played for the first time in the Netherlands. 

Dutch premiere 

Asko|Schönberg immediately sets a beginning and an end in the opening concert of the Saariaho Festival on 13 March. Graal théâtre for violin and ensemble from 1994 was one of Saariaho's first successful works and the trumpet concerto Hush from 2023 is her last work, which she wrote shortly before her death. The concerto written for jazz trumpeter Verneri Pohjola can be understood as a journey through her life. A penetrating work that impresses even more in this ensemble version. 

Read more about the opening concert of the Saariaho Festival 

Final concert 

Anssi Karttunen and Kaija Saariaho had known each other since they independently moved to Paris in the 1980s. They became good friends and since then Karttunen has been involved in all of Saariaho's cello works. The cello concerto Notes on Light from 2006 is the ultimate musical translation of their band. Asko|Schönberg enriches the world of Saariaho at the final concert on 16 March. Featuring a work by her latest 'student' Vasco Mendonça and a look at her Japanese fascination with a brand new piece by Mioko Yokoyama. 

Read more about the closing concert of the Saariaho Festival 

 Kaija Saariaho 

Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023) was a leading voice of her generation of composers. Her distinctive textural compositional style, exploring timbre, was often created by combining live performance and electronics. Saariaho's greatest public and critical recognition came from her work in opera, including, for example: L'Amour de loin (2000), Émilie (2010) and Innocence (2020), which won the Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production in 2024. 

Asko|Schönberg 

Asko|Schönberg presents bold concerts and performances of composed music from the 20th and 21st centuries in a variety of settings, from concert stages and open-air festivals to theatres. The ensemble develops research projects and educational activities. The emphasis is on stimulating and creating new work by contemporary creators. All with the aim of inspiring Dutch and international audiences and discovering new sounds. 

More Kaija Saariaho 

In June, Asko|Schönberg i.c.w. Tero Saarinen Company plays the performance Study for Life at the Holland Festival. This new choreographic work is an ode to the music of Kaija Saariaho. In Study for Life the nuanced and delicate world of Kaija Saariaho is brought to life by a group of five dancers, the musicians of Asko|Schönberg and soprano Raquel Camarinha.