Esa Onttonen

About

Biography + Contact

My name is Esa Onttonen (b. 1975) and I’m a composer and guitarist living in Helsinki, Finland. I mainly work in the field of jazz and improvised music but I’ve also played rock riffs on electric guitar and written scores for classical orchestras.

I’m currently leading Esa Onttonen Labra and co-leading Gourmet with Mikko Innanen. The latest releases to feature my music are Gourmet’s Symposium (2025) and KOLIZIO’s Universala albumo (2024), which includes my composition “Getting Paid (For What You Do)”. The music on on Esa Onttonen Labra’s eponymous debut album (2025) is collectively live composed with an application I’ve been developing since 2020.

“Esa Onttonen is the epitomal erudite whizz-kid; I don’t know of any area in the modern day musical milieu to which he isn’t ultra-savvy. Pass him by at your peril.” —Michael Gibbs

I have written commissioned compositions and arrangements for big bands, symphony orchestras and other ensembles: see Music Finland Composer Profile for a list of works. As guitarist I have played and recorded with my co-led groups Gnomus and Gourmet and as sideman with Halme Prospekt and many others, as well as performed with a solo project Esa Onttonen mielijohteineen for electric guitar and computer-based processing.

I have the degrees of Master of Arts (Art and Design) from Aalto University of Arts, Design and Architecture (2017) and Master of Music from Sibelius Academy (2001), and an ongoing doctoral project at Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki.

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Contact

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