Apart from some minor teaching positions, professor in composition at
Musikhögskolan i Malmö 1990 and masterclasses, Hillborg has been a freelance composer since 1982. His output is vast and covers genres as orchestral, choir, chamber works as well as film and popular music. An example of his work in the popular realm is his collaboration with
Eva Dahlgren, which resulted in the album
Jag vill se min älskade komma från det vilda (1995). The project was first presented at the
Helsinki Festival with the
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Esa-Pekka Salonen. His collaboration with
Salonen has resulted in numerous works, among others
Dreaming River (premiered by the
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999),
Eleven Gates (2005–06) premiered and commissioned by the
Los Angeles Philharmonic. and most recently the large-scale work
Sirens jointly commissioned by the LA Phil and
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Other important recent works
Cold Heat (2010) which was co-commissioned by the
Berlin Philharmonic, the
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and
Tonhalle Orchestra, Zürich Tonhalleorkestern. The piece premiered in 2011 at
Berliner Philharmonie under
David Zinman. Hillborg has held multiple residential fellowships (2010–11, 2011–12, Fall 2018) at the
Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in
Uppsala,
Sweden. As a part of the 2025
Mahler Festival hosted at the
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, a new orchestral piece called
Hell Mountain—jointly commissioned by the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Orchestre de Paris,
Oslo Philharmonic, and the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra—received its premiere under
Klaus Mäkelä leading the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, as a prelude to a performance of
Symphony No. 1 (Mahler). == Selected awards ==