Acclaimed Composer Kaija Saariaho Dies of Brain Tumor at Age 70

Acclaimed Composer Kaija Saariaho Dies of Brain Tumor at Age 70
Composer Kaija Saariaho of Finland arrives for the Polar Music Prize ceremony, where she was named Polar Music Prize laureate Composer for 2013, in Stockholm on Aug. 27, 2013. Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP
The Associated Press
Updated:

Kaija Saariaho, who wrote acclaimed works that made her the among the most prominent composers of the 21st century, died Friday. She was 70.

Saariaho died at her apartment in Paris, her family said in a statement posted on her Facebook page. She had been diagnosed in February 2021 with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable brain tumor.