Sebastian Hilli
(b. 1990) is a Finnish composer and conductor
The winner of the Teosto Prize (2019), Gaudeamus Award (2018), the ‘Composers under 30’ category at the 64th International Rostrum of Composers (2017), the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award (2015) and most recently the SACEM Award for Original Soundtrack in a Short Film at Annecy Festival 2025, Hilli has quickly established himself as one of the most distinctive and original voices of his generation.
In recent years, Hilli’s works have resonated with audiences through a musical language that is both ”personal and heart-rending” (Rondo), ”rooted in tonality yet never banal” (HBL) and ”keenly aware of tradition while reshaping it into something genuinely fresh and profoundly fascinating” (AIM).
Hilli has ”found his own voice as a fuser of various style influences” (Rondo), and he’s works challenge the long-held notion of contemporary classical music as something remote or inaccessible as he effortlessly crosses genre boundaries.
Hilli’s recent violin concerto, 1977 – a Violin Concerto, written for Pekka Kuusisto and premiered by Kuusisto, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Collon, commissioned by Yle, BBC Radio 3 and National Arts Centre Canada, was hailed as “an event well beyond the ordinary” and “nothing less than a milestone in the history of the Finnish violin concerto” (HBL).
Hilli holds a Master’s degree in Composition from Sibelius Academy and a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Hilli is a recipient of a working grant from the Svenska Kulturfonden.
Hilli’s music is exclusively published by Schott Music.
