Aulis Heikki Sallinen (born 9 April 1935) is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". Sallinen studied at the Sibelius Academy, where his teachers included Joonas Kokkonen. He has had works commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, and has also written seven operas, eight symphonies, concertos for violin, cello, flute, horn, and English horn, as well as several chamber works. He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1978 for his opera Ratsumies (The Horseman). Childhood and studies Sallinen was born in Salmi. During his childhood the family moved several times for his father's work, and during Evacuation of Finnish Karelia in 1944 the family relocated to Uusikaupunki, where Aulis Sallinen attended his schools. His first instruments were violin and piano. He would play both jazz and classical music. He was known to be extremely creative and spent much time during his teenage years improvising. After a while, he began writing his ideas down on paper and began serious composition. He attended the Sibelius Academy of Music and studied with a number of prestigious teachers such as Aarre Merikanto and Joonas Kokkonen. Early career and operas After graduating, Sallinen took a position as composition teacher at the Sibelius Academy and continued composing. Among his pupils were i.e. the Austrian-born Finnish composer Herman Rechberger and Jouni Kaipainen. He was appointed as the general manager of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1960 and held the position until 1969. He was the chairman of the board of the Society of Finnish Composers between 1971 and 1974. Though he was a known teacher and was on many boards of directors, his compositions were not particularly noted until he was made "Artist Professor" by the Finnish government in 1976, letting him concentrate on composing. Sallinen's first opera Ratsumies (The Horseman) premiered at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1975. Together with Joonas Kokkonen's The Last Temptations (1975) it started a golden era of modern Finnish opera. His second opera, Punainen viiva (The Red Line), was commissioned by the Finnish National Opera. Sallinen's next opera, Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan (The King Goes Forth to France), was a joint commission by Covent Garden and the Finnish National Opera. Later life After receiving his lifelong art professorship, Sallinen devoted great amounts of time to composing. He has revived standard forms and harmonies,