Herbert Willi was born on 7 January 1956 in Vorarlberg. He studied school music and theology at the University of Innsbruck (M.A. in philosophy) and, at the same time, bassoon and piano at the Conservatory of the city of Innsbruck. From 1983 he studied composition with Helmut Eder at the Salzburg Mozarteum (diploma of composition and M.A.), then continued his studies with Boguslav Schaeffer.

Willi has received many honours and prizes: inter alia he was awarded the Austrian State Scholarship for Composers (1985, 1986, 1989), was prize-winner at the string quartet competition of the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft in 1987 and was given the Rolf-Liebermann-Scholarship for Opera Composers (1990) and the Award for Young Composers by the Ernst-von-Siemens Foundation (1991). Also, he has been appointed Composer-in-residence (at the Salzburg Festival in 1992, 1996-98 at the Camerata Academia, Salzburg), was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Sciences and Arts by the President of the Republic of Austria (1997) and the "Großes Verdienstzeichen des Landes Vorarlberg" (1998). In 2002/2003 he was Composer in Residence of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde des Wiener Musikvereins and of the Wiener Concert-Vereins and 2007 Composer in Residence at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. In 2008 he was Composer in Residence at the Japanese Kusatsu International Summer Music Academy & Festival.

His works have been performed in New York (Carnegie Hall), Tokyo (Suntory Hall, Sumida Triphony Hall), London (Royal Albert Hall), Vienna (Musikverein, Konzerthaus), at the Salzburg Festival (Großes Festspielhaus, Felsenreitschule) at the Berlin Philharmonic by international orchestras (Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra) under the baton of conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa and Christoph von Dohnányi.

The Cleveland Orchestra together with Salzburger Festspiele commissioned the Konzert for orchestra in 1991. Its world premiere was conducted by Chrisoph von Dohnányi. In 1994/95 Willi wrote the opera Schlafes Bruder commissioned by the Zurich Opera on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Austria in 1996 (libretto by Robert Schneider).Commissioned by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on the occasion of their 150th birthday, Willi wrote his orchestra piece Begegnung (1997/98). Willi’s output comprises an opera, orchestral works, chamber music for various instruments and solo works.

Recently, Willi wrote the "Montafon Cycle“ which comprises the works Eirene (concerto for trumpet and orchestra), ...geraume Zeit... (concerto for flute and orchestra ), ego eimi (concerto for clarinet and orchestra) and Äon (concerto for horn and orchestra). The world premiere of the horn concerto with Stefan Dohr and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna has finnished the cycle in March 2008. In the same month, the Stadttheater Klagenfurt has staged the new version of the opera Schlafes Bruder.

Record label WERGO has recently released a retrospective of Herbert Willi's orchestral works including Eirene, Räume, Rondino from the opera "Schlafes Bruder", … geraume Zeit … and Begegnung. In addition, Japaniese label Camerata Tokyo has published a CD featuring Herbert Willi's complete chamber music from the years 1984 to 2005.

Herbert Willi lives as a free-lance composer in St. Anton in the Montafon/Vorarlberg.