15, February 2011
Kaija Saariaho wins Grammy Award
Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho opera recording L’amour de loin, produced by Martin Sauer, has won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Performance.
The album features the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin led by conductor Kent Nagano, the former music director of the Los Angeles Opera, with Daniel Belcher, Jekaterina Lehina, and Marie-AngeTodorovitch taking the main soloist roles. The choir is Rundfunkchor Berlin.
L’amour de loin, Saariaho’s first opera, composed to a libretto by Amin Maalouf, was premiered at the Salzburg Festival in August 2000. Peter Sellars directed the original production, as well as several later versions.
The Grammy Awards are presented annually by the Recording Academy (NARAS) of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry. The winners of the 109 categories were announced in Los Angeles on Sunday February 13.
