Kalafina was formed in 2007 by Japanese composer Yuki Kajiura mainly to perform theme songs for the anime "Kara no Kyoukai" (Garden of Sinners). The band debuted in early 2008 with two members: Wakana Ootaki and Keiko Kubota, who had worked with Kajiura before in FictionJunction. In May 2008, two other members were chosen through audition and confirmed as the third and fourth members of the band: Maya and Hikaru.
Most of the songs the band has released so far are linked to "Kara no Kyoukai." However, their fourth single, Lacrimosa, was used as the ending theme for the anime "Kuroshitsuji" instead. Kalafina has also released a re-mix album titled Re/oblivious, which features some of their earlier works sung only by Keiko and Wakana.
Their first studio album, Seventh Heaven, was released in March 2009 and is named after the theme song for the seventh "Kara no Kyoukai" chapter. In April, they held a live at morph-tokyo. To start May, Sony announced that Maya would no longer participate in Kalafina, leaving the group with three members. Kalafina made their U.S. debut with their performance at Anime Boston as a trio. Whether they find a new member to replace her later on or continue as is remains to be seen, but they already have plans to release a new single in July.
Kalafina is a songstress project by the composer Yuki Kajiura who is famous for her work on many anime soundtracks. The voices of the three Kalafina ladies are perfectly fit for Kajiura's high quality compositions and can vary from light pop to beautiful operatic vocals.
Kajiura's two contrasting styles are often to be found in Kalafina's songs: aggresive techno or almost ethereal classical music. Sometimes, a combination of both styles is used in the same song.
