Hillevi began her piano studies when she was five, with her mother, Heidi Korhonen-Björkman. In 2015, she began classes at Itä- Helsingin Musiikkiopisto with Kristiina Junttu and from 2021 with Eero Manninen. Since 2023, Hillevi studies with Junio Kimanen at Espoon musiikkiopisto.
Hillevi has, apart from the NPA programme, participated in master courses with Antti Hotti, Kata Nummi-Kuisma, Konstantin Bogino, Henri Sigfridsson and Annika Palm. She has also participated in the Helsinki Chopin and Steinway festivals She was awarded a prize in the Tapiola Youth Piano Competition (regional class) in 2017, and received a prize for Finnish music written after 2000 for her performance of two of her own etudes in E flat major 'Preludia' and d minor 'Hetman' in the international class of the same competition in 2023. In 2022, Hillevi was a finalist in the Leevi Madetoja competition (13-16 years) in 2023 and 2025. In 2024, she was awarded third prize in the Gothenburg International Piano Competition.
Hillevi studies composition with Markku Klami and has previously studied the violin. She also occasionally plays the harpsichord and has participated as a continuoist in her music institute's baroque band. As a composer, Hillevi has participated in the Viitasaari Time of Music festival of 2022 and her trio 'Viitasaari' was subsequently premiered at Uuden Musiikin Lokakuu in Oulu.
(Photo © Ville Lehvonen)