Niklas Willén is Chief Conductor of the WDR Radio Orchestra in Cologne. He has previously held positions as General Music Director of the Rostock Theatre and Chief Conductor of the North German Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the Sønderjyllands Symphony Orchestra in Denmark and Chief Conductor of the Sundsvall Chamber Orchestra.

Niklas Willén, the finest Swedish conductor of his generation, was born in Stockholm in 1961 where he studied conducting and composition at the city's Royal College of Music where his conducting teachers included Jorma Panula.

The main focus of Niklas Willén's career is concentrated throughout Scandinavia and the Nordic countries with several of the major orchestras of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland and the major Swedish opera houses where he regularly conducts the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra with occasional forays beyond that have seen him conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, Brabants Orkest and Noordhollands Philharmonisch Orkest in the Netherlands, the Northwest German Philharmonic as well as the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and Ulster Orchestra as well as having spectacular successes conducting the Swedish Radio Choir.

An unwavering list of fine concert reviews range from Germany "Willén accentuated his great art and his intense musical interpretation of the Helios Overture and even more with Sibelius's second." (Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung) to Sweden with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra "Beethoven's 7th Symphony was in a class of its own …" (Dagens Nyheter) attest to his ability.
He has also been active in opera at Göteborgs Operan, the Royal Theatre in Stockholm and Norwegian National Opera in Oslo conductingproductions of "Il Barbière de Siviglia", "Flying Dutchman", "Madame Butterfly", "Turandot" and premières of several new works that have included Peter Bengtson's opera "The Maidens", and he also conducts productions for Stockholm's "Folkoperan" and Värmlandsoperan in Karlstad.

Niklas Willén has strong, distinct affiliations to repertoire of the classical, romantic and contemporary eras and he has become a busy recording artist making CDs with orchestras such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Royal Opera in Stockholm, Göteborgs Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Opera, Sønderjyllands Symphony Orchestra (Prokoviev's complete Piano Concertos; "Willén is a superbly sympathetic partner, coaxing mischief from the orchestra to match Marshev at his cheekiest", "Stunning and superb" and in Nielsen; "Willén's Nielsen is very adroitly paced …… Willén's is a great performance …… a classic Helios Overture), Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Sundsvall Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (Volume 2 of Naxos' complete orchestral music by Alfvén: "Listen as Niklas Willén teases the skittish polka (No. 6) from Alfvén's 'The Prodigal Son' ballet suite, or steers his players through the vehement fugue that rounds out his Symphony No. 2, and you'll appreciate why this release commands unreserved praise.").