Kaija Saariaho (* 14. October 1952 in Helsinki; † 2. June 2023 in Paris) was a Finnish composer.
For 13 years Saariaho attended the Helsinki Rudolf Steiner School, a school with a strong arts and music curriculum, and studied violin and piano at the Sibelius Academy. She later studied composition in Freiburg (under Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber) and at IRCAM in Paris, where she has lived since 1982.
Saariaho was influenced by post-serialism .
