"Luukas' scores are very clear, detailed and well presented. His prompt and clear communication resulted in us receiving the score and parts within the day, helping us to get our music organised well in advance of the first rehearsal. He was also accommodating in proving an additional part which helped boost inclusivity in my orchestra. This was all at a fair price. I would recommend his services to those who need prompt and professional service. 
Thank you, Luukas”.

Jonathan Stamp

Director of Music/School Organist

Norwich School, Norwich, England

"Luukas Hiltunen's arrangement of Uuno Klami's 'Kevään oras' (The Sprout of Spring) from the Kalevala Suite, for clarinet, violin, violoncello, and piano, is truly beautiful. The atmosphere it evokes is deeply intense and also intimate. A peaceful and lovely moment at my concert in the Kymijoki Lohisoitto Festival on June 5, 2025, at the Maritime Centre Vellamo's The Boat Hall in Kotka."

Esa Ylönen

Pianist, Organist, Doctoral Candidate at the Sibelius Academy (University of the Arts, Helsinki)

Kotka, Finland 

"We were also introduced to a young composer, Luukas Hiltunen (b. 1996), whom we heard the world premiere of an orchestral and choral work based on the poem 'Hope is a thing with feathers' by Emily Dickinson (1830–1886). The composition was titled 'Scintillation'. In his presentation, Mr. Hiltunen declared himself a proponent of the traditional style, preferring to compose for an orchestra. He has also been commissioned by orchestras – really fascinating. From the outset, the orchestra's palette immediately made one think of the symphonic poems 'Sea and Forest' by the great Lithuanian composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis (1875–1911). But when the choir made its entrance, we found ourselves in the realm of a Sibelian cantata. Also Edward Elgar's (1857–1934) oratorio 'The Dream of Gerontius', Op. 38 (1900) sprung to one's mind. The work was intended as an introduction to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Op. 125 (1824) and was allowed to flow into its opening measures without detection, which resulted in the audience not instantly being able to determine whether they were still listening to Hiltunen or Beethoven".
[on August 4, 2024, after the world premiere of 'Scintillation' on August 3, 2024, in Mikkeli, Finland, by the Helsinki Philharmonic Choir, Saimaa Sinfonietta and Orkester Norden under the baton of Aliisa Neige Barrière]

Eero Tarasti

Musicologist, Semiotician, Pianist, Author

University of Helsinki

Helsinki, Finland

"The composer and arranger Luukas Hiltunen has been familiar with Sibelius's music and with his style of writing for orchestra since he was a young child. Although the 'Intrada' and 'Surusoitto' had never been orchestrated before, Hiltunen realized that their sonorities would work well in an orchestral setting; in 2018 he made his versions of both pieces, dedicating them to the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and its then principal conductor, Dima Slobodeniouk. Hiltunen strove to make his orchestrations sound as Sibelian as possible. Accordingly, the scoring he chose – for strings, woodwind (two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons), four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, one tuba and timpani – corresponds very closely to Sibelius's typical choice of instruments in his major works. In the absence of Sibelius's 'Eighth Symphony', which the composer probably burned in the 1940s, we can never know for sure how his style would have developed after the 'Seventh Symphony', the music for 'The Tempest' and the tone poem 'Tapiola'. With these orchestrations, however, Luukas Hiltunen encapsulates the spirit of Sibelius's late music and, with 'Surusoitto', offers us a tantalizing glance at what might have come next."

Andrew Barnett

General Manager, Sibelius One,
International Jean Sibelius Society
Saltdean, England

"Last but not least, the evening concluded with 'Satumaa', (Fairyland), one of Unto Mononen's most beloved tangos, in a new arrangement by the composer Luukas Hiltunen. As the final wistful chords fade away, the audience bursted into thunderous applause and called the artists back to the stage several times".

Anu Kuivasmäki

Editor-in-Chief, Ruovesi Newspaper

[Excerpt from a review of the concert held on July 1, 2023, at the Workers' House Sointula, Ruovesi, Finland]