Sebastian Hilli has quickly become one of the most fascinating Finnish composers of his generation. He has written mainly chamber music but has also convinced professional audiences that he has the skills to compose for symphony orchestras as well. In 2015 he won first prize in the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award with his orchestral work Reachings. Instrumental colours and techniques play crucial roles in Hilli’s music. It can be described as active and energetic, but then again sensitive, melancholic and tranquil. “I aim to express my musical thoughts in broad arcs. The overall identity of a work and its various characters and emotional states are important, and through these I outline the shape of the music on a general level; that’s what my music is about.”, says Sebastian Hilli.

• Merja Hottinen: Blowing & popping bubbles (FMQ)
• Sebastian Hilli’s Reachings won the 64th International Rostrum of Composers
• Listen to Reachings performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and André de Ridder
• Sebastian Hilli and Sauli Zinovjev: emotions in two different aesthetics
• Reaching for a composer’s career (FMQ)
• Listen to Sebastian Hilli on SoundCloud
• Sebastian Hilli's website