Bio

Ville Aslak Raasakka is a Helsinki-based Finnish composer specialized in ecology. His works incorporate field recordings from coal power plants, coal mines, oil rigs, forests, trees, plants and underwater sites. He is currently working with bioacoustics and composing in cooperation with biologists.

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His works are performed by the Klangforum Wien (Vienna), BBC Symphony Orchestra (London), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Helsinki), Mivos Quartet (New York City), Avanti! Chamber Orchestra (Helsinki), der/gelbe/klang (München), Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Lemniscate (Basel), Ensemble Schwerpunkt (Hannover), Curious Chamber Players (Stockholm), Amorsima Trio (Texas) and Ensemble Mise-En (New York City).

 

Festivals including Eclat (Stuttgart), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (United Kingdom), Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music (Australia), June in Buffalo (University of Buffalo), Festival Archipel (Genève), Festival de Royaumont (France), Nordic Music Days (Reykjavik) and World New Music Days (Lisbon) have programmed his music.  

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He received the Indie Awards nomination for Classical Artist of the Year 2025, and his orchestral work received a recommendation at the International Rostrum of Composers in 2019. 

 

Raasakka has composed for renowned soloists and conductors such as Bas Wiegers, Marco Blaauw, John Storgårds, Saar Berger, Anssi Karttunen, Chloé Dufresne, Hannu Lintu, Rebecca Tong and Kaisa Kortelainen.

 

Ville also works as a composition teacher at the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), where he researches and teaches ecological practices. He has guest lectured at the Fine Arts Academy (Helsinki), the Theatre Academy (Helsinki), The Royal Academy of Music (London) and at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (Germany). He is an avid speaker and a frequent guest at panel discussions.

 

Ville Aslak Raasakka studied composition with Veli-Matti Puumala at the Sibelius Academy and with Georges Aperghis as his private student in Paris 2008. He is currently finishing his Doctoral degree at the Sibelius Academy, and is a research member of the Critical Academy in the University of the Arts Helsinki.