Saariaho is feted in Berkeley

The Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho has set up shop in Berkeley for the fall, undertaking a two-month stay as the UC Berkeley music department’s Ernest Bloch Lecturer.

Unfortunately, nobody is taking on the operas that have brought Saariaho acclaim in recent years, but her orchestral and chamber music will serve just as well.

Cellist Anssi Karttunen, a longtime collaborator of the composer’s, will tackle her solo piece “Sept Papillons” and take a lead role in the quasi-chamber concerto “Notes on Light.”