Tero Saarinen, Kaija Saariaho

The Werkstattbühne theatre space will be the venue for three music theatre works as enthralling as they are different: Borrowed Light, Study for Life and Emily – No Prisoner Be, which put the focus on devotion and community, spiritual freedom and powerful sensory experience..

Study for Life, Tero Saarinen's latest immersive and multidisciplinary work, can be seen on 30 July 2025. It’s a hommage to the music of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, until her death a close friend and artistic collaborator. Four of Saariaho’s compositions can be heard, including one that gives the piece its title, the Miniature for Soprano, Electronics and Light, based on a passage from T. S. Eliot’s famous poem The Hollow Men. Study for Life is a co-production with the Holland Festival and will be receiving its Austrian premiere at the Werkstattbühne theatre. Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) is one of the most significant composers of the present day. Known for her dense, colourful musical idiom, she combines electronics and orchestra in an innovative manner. Study for Life, Saariaho’s first piece conceived for the stage, is the starting point for a multi-artistic arc that initially leads the audience through an empty, lonely landscape before bathing it in a rich synaesthesia. 

Tickets and all further information about Study for Life, including the program, performance times and other details, can be found here.