Collaborative Piano

Leino Songs
(live performance, 5/6/2024)
     from "A Tribute to Kaija Saariaho"
     Experimental Theater / Conrad Prebys Music Center

music by Kaija Saariaho
texts by Eino Leino
     Kirsten Ashley Wiest, soprano

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Leino Songs are Saariaho's setting of poems by one of Finland’s most important poets, Eino Leino. He 
was the most important developer of Finnish-language poetry at the turn of the 20th century, and in his 
works combined symbolism, mythic tradition and influences from Nietzsche with his own romantic 
concept of the poet as a truth-seeking visionary. The four songs, entitled “Looking at You”, “The Heart”, 
“Evening Prayer”, and “Peace”, were written for the Finnish soprano Anu Komsi and are the first set of 
songs Saariaho wrote in Finnish. 

​- Kirsten Ashley Wiest

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*more information and texts/translations available here