Bio

Ville Aslak Raasakka is a Finnish composer specialized in ecology. His works are based on bioacoustic recordings, environmental research and data from macroalgae, coal mines, soil insects, oil rigs, tree roots, power plants and marine microbes. Raasakka studied with Veli-Matti Puumala at the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki) and privately with Georges Aperghis (Paris).

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In 2025-2026 Raasakka works on commissions for the Mivos Quartet (NYC) + Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), Lorelei Dowling (Klangforum Wien), Design Museum London (UK), Avanti! (FI) + Sirja Nironen (FI) + Tampere Biennale (FI), and the Rainy days Festival (Luxembourg) + Yarn/Wire (New York) + Speak Percussion (Melbourne) + Riot Ensemble (UK).

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His works are performed by the Klangforum Wien (Vienna), BBC Symphony Orchestra (London), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Helsinki), Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (New Zealand), Avanti! Chamber Orchestra (Helsinki), Dal Niente (Chicago), der/gelbe/klang (München), Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Lapland Chamber Orchestra (FI), Curious Chamber Players (Stockholm), Ensemble Schwerpunkt (Hannover), Amorsima Trio (Texas), Ensemble Mise-En (New York City) and Ensemble Lemniscate (Basel). He works regularly with Finnish symphony orchestras.

 

Festivals including ECLAT (Stuttgart), Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music (Bendigo, Australia), June in Buffalo (Buffalo, New York), Festival Archipel (Genève), Festival de Royaumont (Royaumont, France), Open Music (Graz), Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Utrecht), Nordic Music Days (Reykjavik), ISCM World New Music Days (Lisbon), AFEKT (Tallinn), Klang Festival (Copenhagen), Festival Musica Estranha (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and the Centre Henri Pousseur (Brussels) have programmed his music. He has given a master course in composition in Seoul (South Korea).

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His music reaches beyond concert form, and has been presented at the international theatre festival Baltic Circle (FI), international fine arts festival Helsinki Biennial (FI), the fine arts Museum of Impossible Forms (FI), and at one of the largest international pop music festivals in the Nordics, the Flow Festival (FI).

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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 (Argentina) in 2019. 

 

Raasakka has composed for renowned soloists and conductors such as Bas Wiegers, Minna Pensola, Marco Blaauw, Antti Tikkanen, John Storgårds, Olga Heikkilä, Saar Berger, Anssi Karttunen, Chloé Dufresne, Hannu Lintu, Rebecca Tong, Kaisa Kortelainen, Lorelei Dowling, Petri Kumela, Rita Castro Blanco, Petteri Pitko, Raphaël Dubois, Emil Holmström, James Sherlock, Ville Matvejeff, Nils Schweckendiek, Markus Hohti, Orest Smovzh, Iida-Vilhelmiina Sinivalo and Livia Schweizer.

 

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 City St. George's University of London, the Liszt Academy (Budapest), 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 in Finland.

 

Ville Aslak Raasakka complemented his studies at masterclasses with Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Hans Abrahamsen and Brian Ferneyhough and at the IRCAM summer courses. 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. His music is published by Universal Edition (Wien-London-New York) and Donemus (The Hague) and he is represented by Real Arts artist management (Berlin).