His works were performed in New York (Carnegie Hall), Tokyo (Suntory Hall, Sumida Triphony Hall), London (Royal Albert Hall), Vienna (Musikverein, Konzerthaus), at the Salzburger Festspielen (Großes Festspielhaus, Felsenreitschule) and at the Berliner Philharmonie by international orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Christoph von Dohnány, Kirill Petrenko, Manfred Honeck, Christian Arming and Gustavo Dudamel.
Commissioned by the Zurich Opera, Herbert Willi wrote the opera Schlafes Bruder (world premiere in 1996) to make the anniversary of »1000 Years of Austria«. For the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra he wrote the commissioned work Begegenung für Orchester (world premiere in 1999) on the occasion of the »150 Years of Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra« celebrations.
Herbert Willi was also composer-in-residence of the Salzburg Festival (1992), of Camerata Academica Salzburg (1996–1998) and of Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde des Wiener Musikvereins und des Wiener Concert-Vereins (2002/2003).
In 2007 Herbert Willi was composer-in-residence of the Pacific Music Festival (PMF) founded by Leonard Bernstein in Japan in 1990, and in 2008 composer-in-residence of the Kusatsu International Summer Music Acadamy & Festival in Japan.
Awards – inter alia:
1990 - Rolf-Liebermann-Stipendium (scholarship) for opera compositions
(Jury State Opera Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Munich)
1991 – Stipend Award of the Ernst-von-Siemens Foundation
1993 – his Concert for Orchestra was awarded Recommended Work at the International Rostrum of Composers of UNESCO in Paris
1997 – Award of the Austrian Presidential Cross for Science and the Arts (Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst), presented by the Austrian President Thomas Klestil.
2006 – Award of the title Professor, presented by the Austrian President Heinz Fischer.
The label WERGO published a retrospective with orchestra works by Herbert Willi, including the works Eirene, Räume, Rondino of the opera Schlafes Bruder, ...geraume Zeit... and Begegnung.
Also, the Japanese label Camerata Tokyo published a CD with Herbert Willi‘s Chamber Music from the years 1984 - 2005.
