Hans Martin Akerwall is a pupil of the legendary conductor Jorma Panula at The Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. His other teachers have included James de Priest, Michell Plasson, Jan Krenz, Janos Fürst and Moshe Atzmon. He also studied composition and music theory at The Royal Music Academy of Music, Copenhagen with Hans Abrahamsen and Ib Nørholm. Secondly he studied piano and percussion. During this period Akerwall attended a number of masterclasses with Carlo Maria Giulini, Pierre Boulez, Henryk Górecki, Paul Cooper and Hans Leygraf. Hans Martin Akerwall was awarded the Danish 1. prize at the Nordic Conductors Competition 1990 and The Gade´s Music Prize and Noilly Prat´s Music Prize for young talents. .